


Everything Snowballs

by Tiswabley



Series: Tiwabley's Abandoned Works [2]
Category: Danny Phantom, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Danny is a genius, Fear of Government Officials, Friendship, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, Panic Attacks, Scars, Science Bros, Tony Being Tony, and I'll fight you for it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 10:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 53,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15928259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiswabley/pseuds/Tiswabley
Summary: 17-yr-old Danny Fenton's parents drag him along when they're invited to speak at the Stark Expo in New York, and he ends up meeting Tony Stark. From there, he learns a bit more about engineering and spends a week enjoying Tony's company. Danny goes back to Amity Park with his parents, Nick Fury shows up and wants to know about a certain teenager.UNFINISHED (Possibly permanently.)(Original work on FFN, under author Akaiyuki-Tenshi.)





	1. Road Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an Avengers/Danny Phantom crossover. Phantom Planet didn’t happen, Danny still hasn’t told his parents his secret, and this happens shortly after the events of the Avengers movie.

 

Danny scratched the back of his neck nervously. His parents had been invited to participate in Stark Expo, and he had been dragged along by his over enthusiastic father yet again. His mother thought that he’d be fine to stay home alone, being nearly eighteen, but Jack had wanted the teen to learn more about inventing and engineering.

“I don’t get why I couldn’t just stay home and take online courses or something,” he complained. “I  _ really _ don’t need to go to some big tech expo. Remember what happened last time you took me to something like this?”

Maddie chuckled. “Aw, sweetie, don’t worry! Your father and I only have to be there for a week, after all. I highly doubt that they have anything you need to worry about. Just try to stay away from the more dangerous exhibits, alright? I know how clumsy you are.”

The raven-haired teen groaned. “Thanks, Mom. Really feeling the love.”

“Dann-o, you know your mother didn’t mean it like that! You’re enthusiastic, just like your old man!” Jack boomed happily, ever the excitable puppy. “Besides, if you really want to, you can just hang out in the hotel room or go to boring lectures!”

Not for the first time did Danny wonder if his father had a lower setting than  _ loud _ . He gave his father a weak grin and nodded, trying to think of things he could do at the Stark Expo. It  _ sounded _ interesting enough, but with his grades (still suffering from constant ghost attacks), he didn’t know if he’d understand any of the technical talk.

Little did his parents know, their son enjoyed tinkering with some of their older, more obsolete ghost inventions. Danny didn’t  _ really _ know what he was doing, he couldn’t explain what he did to Sam and Tucker, but he had inherited the Fenton family talent of inventing. His more compact, sleeker Fenton Thermos was a huge help in ghost fights, and it was more easily hideable on his person. He had also remodeled some old ecto-wristrays for Sam and Tucker so they were more powerful.

Danny just... didn’t know any technical terms. The little he knew had come from his parents’ occasional explanations of their ghost hunting tech. He thought that the devices and plans themselves would be really cool to see, but the teen just knew that the lectures would do absolutely nothing for him.

After another few hours of driving, Danny gave in to his boredom and started fiddling with the tech his parents had laying around in the back of the GAV. Why they felt it necessary to drive that monstrosity, he would never understand.

It would take the entire day, and a good chunk of the night, to get to New York from Minnesota. In all that time, Danny barely had anything to do. He had a couple snacks, a bottle of water, a Shakespeare book for English class, and his Fenton Thermos. Not the old one, but the sleek, almost unrecognizable redesigned one. The raven-haired boy had spent an hour scribbling notes from his latest Ghost Zone history lesson with Clockwork on a spare piece of paper his parents had lying around. He daydreamed about living with his cousin Dani and his best friends, fighting ghosts together, having snowball fights with the yetis from the Far Frozen. He thought about everything that had happened to him since he went into the portal and half died, three years ago. So much had changed over three short years.

The biggest change was the probation of his evil future self. Dark Dan had been released from his prison by Clockwork after about a year, and given two options. If Dan behaved and was helpful (good just didn’t fit the ghost), he would get more freedoms as time passed, and allowed to be his own ghost, eventually. He could not cause mass destruction or terror, and had to do tasks and the occasional favor for the Ghost of Time

If Dan decided to go against Clockwork’s wishes, he would be deleted.  _ Permanently _ . He had the chance to change, and though Danny was wary at first, Dan actually began to heal from the accident that didn’t happen in their timeline. He would never get his humanity back, he had burned that bridge, but he was less of a jerk most of the time, and much less violent and evil. The halfa teen had actually become more comfortable around his evil future self. 

Danny chuckled to himself at that thought.  _ “Dan is actually really protective of our friends and family. I’m just glad he didn’t end up with Vlad’s obsession with my-slash-our mom. That would’ve been a whole ‘nother level of creepy fruitloop,”  _ he reflected.

Now, if only they could magically appear at their destination. That would be perfect.

 

* * *

  
  


Danny was shaken roughly by a particularly large pothole. Stretching, he rubbed his eyes tiredly. The teen couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep, but he was glad he’d managed it. The sky was dark, it was night, which meant that they must be nearly there.

“Danny? You awake, sweetie?” he heard his mom ask.

Danny mumbled a bit, but he worked out a full sentence. “Yeah. How long t-til we get there?” he yawned. His hair was sticking up in odd places, and with that dazed expression, he looked just like a little kid again, and Maddie wanted to get up and hug the stuffing out of him.

“Just half an hour, Dann-o,” his dad exclaimed, a little less enthusiastic than when they began the trip. Apparently, even  _ he _ suffered from exhaustion sometimes. There was just something about road trips that drained a person.

Danny perked up at the answer. “Really? Awesome,” he commented. Once he got to the hotel, he could call Sam and Tucker and make sure they were okay. And find something to do. He was  _ bored _ . Again. And he had just woken up.

An hour later, the three had all been checked in, given room keys, and treated to a nice dinner, courtesy of Stark Industries, who was paying for their hotel room. Danny had to admit that the dinner was a very nice touch, and almost made the road trip worth it. He hadn’t had such a nice human-made meal in  _ ages _ , since his mother often made their food come alive, and his father just didn’t cook. 

In fact, the last time he had such a nice meal was when Vlad held a Christmas Truce party in his mansion last year. Vlad had his chefs prepare a mix of human and ghost delicacies, and the few ghosts who received invitations greatly enjoyed the three-course meal.

So, Danny was very contented, sleepy, and only slightly worried about his friends’ well-being back in Amity Park. He couldn’t really help worrying. He knew Sam and Tucker would probably be perfectly fine, what with their years of experience helping him fight. He knew they would call if they had a problem they couldn’t beat. His hero complex just wouldn’t let him rest, in the end. He  _ needed _ to call them.

Sadly, he had to wait another hour before his parents decided to go try the hot tub and pool. While he would have liked to swim, he didn’t want them asking question about all of the scars that littered his body, and it created the perfect opportunity for a potentially long phone call involving ghosts and his alter ego.

He hurriedly changed into his sleepwear and pulled out his cell, a sleek, newer model the fruitloop had gotten him for his seventeenth birthday. Always suspicious of the billionaire’s intentions, Danny had completely dismantled and reassembled it before he was satisfied it was just a normal, un-bugged phone. Then, he had given a very confused fruitloop a big hug.

_ “Sam Manson speaking,” _ a feminine voice drawled. 

Danny grinned and greeted her with a, “Hey, goth girl.”

“ _ Ghost boy! _ ” she cheered. “ _ I was wondering how long it’d take before you called us. I take it that you’ve gotten to your hotel by now? It’s pretty late.” _

“Yeah,” he replied, still smiling. “I fell asleep about four hours in, and slept nearly the whole trip, so I’m not that tired. I think that’s actually the longest continuous sleep I’ve gotten in... months. Wow.”

He heard a snort from Sam. “ _ Well, that means I win the bet. Tucker thought you’d call before you got to the hotel, and I thought you’d call from the room. How’s it look, Danny?” _

Danny glanced around. “Pretty nice, actually. Stark Industries is paying for it, and they didn’t skimp on  _ anything _ . It’s a two-bedroom suite with a bath, a kitchenette, and a small living room. I still can’t believe I get an actual bed. I thought I was gonna have to ask for a rollaway or pull out the couch bed or something.”

“ _ Well, Stark Ind. does treat its guests well. Most people think that’s Ms. Potts, the current CEO’s influence. I kinda doubt it, though. She seems nice, but that’s just one of those things too far outside of her sphere of attention. I’d bet anything that it was something Tony Stark recommended. He acts like a dick, but he’s actually really funny. _ ”

“How do you know that?” Danny asked, before remembering her background.

“ _ Rich people benefits. I went to a few in the Twin Cities, and he was at a couple of them. We talked once, not much to say. Very flirty, very snarky. He strikes me as your type of guy, actually. Engineering genius, _ ” she replied casually.

Danny read between the lines and blushed. “Hey, just because I’m bi doesn’t mean that I’m looking for a partner. I’d rather stick to people who  _ wouldn’t _ make me look stupid, thanks.”

He heard a harsh sigh from Sam’s end, and rolled his eyes. “Besides,” he continued, “I’m not all that interested in men nearly three decades older than me, Sam. Even if they are cute and snarky.” He paused to take a deep breath. “Alright, so, how are you and Tucker doing?”

“ _ Ah, but that means you  _ are _ interested,” _ Sam replied playfully.  _ “We’re doing fine, really. Clockwork sent your evil future self to help out, in case we run into anything we can’t handle ourselves. It’s been a nice... bonding session, I guess.” _

The halfa let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Remind me to thank Clockwork when I get back, okay? Just make sure Dan doesn’t go off and torment the A-Listers anymore. Remember the last time we let him have free reign around town? He might not be evil, but he’s still a jerk sometimes.”

There was a very indignant shout from the other end of the line. “ _ Oops. Guess he heard that. Don’t worry, I’ll keep Dan on a short leash. Jazz is coming to visit on Wednesday, too, so she can work on his mental state some more.” _

“Alright, say hi to Tucker and Dan and Jazz for me, then,” he laughed. “Bye.”

“ _ Bye, ghost boy. See you when you get back, _ ” Sam replied, hanging up.

Danny tucked his phone back in his pocket and ran a hand through his thick, black hair, which was  _ still _ sticking up in odd places. He needed a shower, and preferably  _ before _ his parents came back from their short jaunt to the pool.

This trip was already off to a better start than he anticipated. He just hoped it would stay like that.


	2. Exploring the Expo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story doesn't focus on romance, and the plot is meant to begin as light and funny. There will be some darker themes explored in the later chapters, but seeing as this is unfinished, and will probably remain so, it won't get very far into those.

 

 

Danny couldn’t keep the grin off his face as they pulled into the parking lot near where his parents would be lecturing. Everything looked so modern, very futuristic with sleek designs, plenty of chrome, and advanced gadgets. The child in him desperately wanted to run off at top speed and explore as much as he could.

“Alright, sweetie,” his mom said, turning to him, “we’re going to be giving lectures all day, with only a brief break for lunch. I doubt you want to be stuck in a stuffy room with a bunch of scientists for hours, so I’m going to let you wander around on your own. You’re certainly old enough to.”

Danny nodded. “I’ve got my cell phone, and my wallet. Do you want me to come back here by any specific time? I can always call a cab to get back to the hotel.”

Maddie shook her head. “No, it’s better if you come back around five. We’re going to a formal dinner party tonight, that’s why I had you pack your suit. It starts at seven, so that leaves us two hours to get ready and get there.” She pulled out a few twenty dollar bills and handed them to her son. “Use this for food or admission to a couple places that catch your eye.”

Danny smiled and gave her a quick hug, carefully relaxing his muscles to avoid giving anything away. His mom didn’t know about his more athletic physique, and he wanted to keep it that way. Sparring matches with her were bound to end badly, one way or another.

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll be back around five, then,” he replied cheerfully.

As he began to wander, Danny realized he had no idea what to do there. There were so many cool things, so many interesting exhibits. Hell, there was even a designated area for space-faring tech! As soon as he checked a map to find out where NASA’s exhibits were located, he sped off. He was going to enjoy his time at Stark Expo. He just knew it.

 

* * *

 

Somehow, he had completely exhausted himself in the flight simulation machines NASA had set up for children and teenagers. Danny knew he must have spent well over an hour in the simulator for zero gravity. It was just so similar to his flight that he couldn’t help himself. The only difference was that he couldn’t propel himself without pushing off a wall or another object.

Clueless he was not. At least, not any more, that nickname had died over the three years since he had become a halfa and since he began exploring his sexuality. Therefore, the teenager had noticed the surprised looks some of the staff had when he exited the simulator. He briefly considered giving them his contact information, but shook his head sadly and walked away. The chances of him becoming an astronaut had evaporated when he became half-ghost. 

It really did hit home sometimes that he was half-dead, and in those times, he’d struggle with a sense of being  _ other _ , or  _ wrong _ . Being a halfa meant going against nature, somehow. Nothing should be both alive  _ and _ dead at the same time. His death bled through to his human form, and his life bled through to his ghost form. More often than not, he would be stitching up a gash and get his hands covered in green-and-red fluid, blood and ectoplasm mixing.

So, he just sighed and walked away. There was nothing he could do about it, NASA wouldn’t take him even if he  _ did _ get his grades up. He’d automatically fail any physical health exam they gave him, and would probably fail most mental health exams, too.

The thought of Jazz psychoanalyzing the doctor who was meant to be psychoanalyzing him was actually pretty funny, though. Danny grinned and glanced around, scanning the area for any interesting things. There was a... robot-building contest, Tucker would’ve enjoyed that. And to the left, some company was giving a demonstration of their hovercraft, not that the thing would be even remotely street-legal anytime soon. 

Maybe he’d enter the robot-building contest, just for kicks. It wasn’t like he could program it, but experience building one might get him points with his friend, and they could work together on one when Danny got back to Amity. 

Taking a deep breath, Danny decided to try it out and enjoy himself. Building was his thing, even if he didn’t know any technical terms. A robot couldn’t be that hard to build, right?

 

* * *

 

He was wrong. So horribly, terribly wrong. It wasn’t that the robot was  _ hard _ to build. It was that the rules and guidelines confused the crap out of him. He  _ didn’t know any technical terms _ , so he had no idea what was against the rules, aside from not making his robot dangerous. He had no clue what not to do.

He sat there for the first ten minutes, just staring at the rules and then at his parts, and then back at the rules again. When someone finally came over and asked him what was wrong, he let out a breathy sigh and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit.

“I-I don’t know any of this,” he admitted, waving his hand at the rules. “I can’t tell what I’m not allowed to do, besides make a dangerous robot.” He tugged lightly on a lock of hair and bit his lip, still looking between his parts and the rule list.

The judge who had come over to ask what was wrong blinked a few times, then let out a harsh laugh. “Alright,  _ kid _ , since you don’t seem to know anything, just do whatever you want. We’ll tell you what’s wrong when everyone’s done,” he drawled condescendingly. 

Danny pushed the initial anger at being treated like he was stupid down. It wasn’t like it didn’t happen at school every day, he could handle this. “Cool, thanks. I don’t know how to program, though. I’m just good at building tech. If someone wants to, they could program my robot for me,” he replied politely, extending an offer to the rest of the contestants. 

The judge narrowed his eyes and sneered. “Fine, but you just agreed to share the credit of whatever you make with a random stranger. Will that be okay with you,  _ kid _ ?”

Danny just gritted his teeth and nodded in silence. When the jerk left, the raven-haired teen began to assemble his robot. He thought of Technus and Skulker, of what their tech could do, of how versatile it was without necessarily being  _ dangerous _ . Skulker’s suit was a robotic marvel that he and Tucker had managed to study briefly.

He wanted to make something nice. He thought of Cujo and Vlad’s cat, Maddie (who apparently liked his company). An idea popped into his head. There were so many kids who couldn’t have a pet because they were, or someone they lived with was, allergic. If he were to make a cat, it would require more fine-tuning than he had time for, so he went with a dog. 

Danny modeled it after Cujo’s puppy form, being more familiar with that than any living canine, and started to assemble the pieces. The participants had two hours to build something functional, and that was all Danny really needed for a simple, functional frame.

He had just finished tightening the last screw on one of the legs when he felt the presence of someone behind him. It wasn’t threatening, or malevolent, that he could sense from a distance now, so he just grabbed his “blueprints” (more like a general shape and the original purpose of the robot) and thrust it over his shoulder.

“Are you the programmer they sent? Sorry I couldn’t make  _ actual _ blueprints, but you get the gist of it, right?” Danny commented, not taking his eyes off his work. Another leg was finished and he reached out to his pile of components only to have the parts he needed next pushed closer. “Thanks. You can decide what you want the dog to do. Heck, you can even name it if you like. I’ve never been good at naming things.”

“Alright,” came a smooth, masculine voice. There was a hint of warm amusement in his tone that made the teen relax a bit more. “Its basic functions are walking and... standing, huh? Just a simple dog?”

Danny nodded. “I couldn’t do anything complicated in two hours, and I didn’t know if the programmer they were gonna send me would be any good, so I kept it simple. Besides, I don’t have much experience building robots. Containment devices and alternate-energy-sourced weapons are my strong points,” he explained.

The man he had yet to actually see let out a chuckle and commented, “Well, I’m a pretty damn good programmer. Made my own A.I. when I was younger than you, so I can do as complicated or simple as you want. Y’know, we could probably make it do a backflip, if you wanted. Just to add a little excitement to the whole thing. Hm... what do you think about the name Clint? Or Bruce. Thor is pretty good, too. Oh, oh, or how about Steve?”

The blue-eyed teen let out a happy chuckle. “Steve is a little odd for a dog, don’t you think? Thor is a name I’d actually expect a dog to have, out of all the names you listed. But really, Bruce? Clint? Maybe I really  _ should _ name it.”

“Fine.” Danny could almost  _ feel _ the pout he knew the man had on his face. “How about Rover? Spot? Or maybe Fido, that’s a really good one.”

“No, no, those are so...  _ unoriginal _ .” Danny sighed, and mumbled, “Great, now I sound like Sam...” Then, louder, “How about Chronos? Titan of time.” For some reason, Clockwork had popped into his head when he was thinking about names, and he couldn’t get him out.

The man laughed. “Sure, why not? Robots don’t age and die like humans do, and you could add a clock to the thing somewhere.”

Danny chuckled and went back to his work. By the end of the two hours, both teammates had done their parts, and turned to talk face-to-face.

The man who had coded for him had short, dark brown-black hair and blue eyes. He also had a little goatee and his hair was artistically styled to look messy. He had a nice suit on, with a deep blue tie that offset the outfit nicely. There were wrinkles in the corners of his eyes from smiling, and he gave off a relaxed and playful feeling.

Danny extended his hand with a shy smile. “Thanks for doing the coding. Danny Fenton.”

The man shook his hand firmly, but didn’t use one of the death grips the teen was familiar with, and for that, he was thankful. “Tony Stark. No problem, kid.”

Danny scowled. “Please, don’t call me kid. I’m turning eighteen in a couple months, and I’m just sick of it,” he asked, glaring at the ground. He really  _ was _ sick of it. All of the ghosts he fought called him a variation of ‘kid’. ‘Dipstick’, ‘ghost child’, ‘little badger’, and on the list went. He really was tired of it, but he didn’t need to take it out on Tony. 

Tony... Tony... where had he heard that name before?  _ “Oh. Oh. Tony Stark. Stark Expo. His company invited my parents to come speak. Sam has talked to this guy before. Oh,”  _ Danny thought suddenly. He knew who the man was, now.

“Did... did you actually come up to me to help?” He was worried he had overstepped his boundaries by making that assumption. Wow, no wonder his friends still called him ‘clueless’. He had basically roped a billionaire into a lame robotics competition and bossed him around. If he made this guy mad, he could probably get his company to pull their support and no longer let his parents lecture at the Expo. Man, did he fuck up.

Tony shrugged. “Not really.” The teen winced, and Tony continued on. “I was bored, though, and you were the only one whose robot looked even remotely interesting. It caught my eye ‘cause it was so different from the rest. I  _ did _ say it was no problem. Heck, I’d probably even do it again. It was fun.”

Danny blushed and ducked his head. “Still, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you involved, I just didn’t know the first thing about programming, and I sensed someone behind me, and you didn’t feel threatening or anything, so I just assumed-”

“Wait,” Tony interrupted. “You  _ sensed  _ me?”

Danny’s expression froze and he let his hands drop to his sides. Slowly, hesitantly, he explained, “Yes. It’s an ability anyone can develop, really... it has to do with hearing, sensitivity to air pressure, and awareness of your surroundings. Have you ever seen a person react to your presence before you make yourself known? Anyone can train that feeling, if they try.”

The billionaire’s eyes narrowed in curiosity, and he considered what the young man had said. It sounded true enough, and it was certainly a skill Natasha and Clint had perfected. The only issue with the explanation was that Clint was hard of hearing, and often needed hearing aids to make sense of what anyone was saying, if they weren’t facing him. A skilled lip reader he may be, but that required lips to read.

“Hey,” he mused aloud, “do you have anywhere you need to be?”

Danny blinked a few times and mutely shook his head. Recovering from the sudden change of subject, he cleared his throat. “Not until five o’clock. My parents and I are apparently attending a dinner party this evening, and they wanted to meet up with me so we could all get back to the hotel and get ready.”

Tony pulled out his phone, checked his schedule, and checked out the surname ‘Fenton’ in relation to Stark Expo. “Are your parents the... paranormal scientists and inventors giving lectures on ghosts and...  _ ectotechnology? _ ” he asked, a little confused.

Ducking his head to hide an embarrassed blush, Danny replied, “Yeah. They were invited here to speak about their  _ unusual _ field of study by your company.” He hated that his parents’ interest (read: obsession) in ghosts managed to always come up in conversation with complete strangers. It made everything awkward.

Tony visibly processed the information he had just gained, and then beamed at the teen with a dazzling grin. “Great! That means you can accompany me back to Stark Tower! I want to talk to you about your engineering skills, I can tell you’re talented, but from what you said, you don’t have any formal training, do you? It’s a sad waste of potential, Danny, and you seem like a fun person. I can even show you my workshop if you like!”

The babbling genius gently grabbed Danny’s upper arm and began guiding him towards one of the Expo’s entrances. The poor teenager was barely able to process what had just happened before he was herded into an expensive sports car and driven away from the Expo.


	3. Stark Tower

 

Danny wasn’t really sure how to react to Tony basically kidnapping him. He knew that the eccentric genius meant well. At least, the teen was  _ pretty _ sure he did. That didn’t stop him from being incredibly nervous about what would happen when they  _ got _ to the place.

He wasn’t stupid, and he didn’t live under a rock, though it was a pretty close thing. He knew who the Avengers were, and that Tony was a part of that team. He also knew, from constant media coverage that was incredibly hard to avoid seeing, that most of the Avengers stayed in Stark Tower. The media was even calling the skyscraper Tony designed the ‘Avengers Tower’ instead. So, he was understandably nervous.

Also, what the raven-haired boy had mentioned earlier about sensing Tony’s presence was something he was still regretting. Danny was entirely certain that ability  _ hadn’t _ come from his ghost half, merely from practice and dangerous situations in which sensing where a person was had been the line between ( _ half _ ) life and ( _ his second _ ) death, but he knew normal people didn’t develop an ability like that. There was a chance he could play it off as having dangerous weapons around the house and a father with terrible aim, but if he was meeting the Black Widow or someone a little more observant than Tony, they’d call his bluff immediately. 

“Tony,” he called, “are you  _ sure _ this is a good idea?”

The billionaire just laughed, and that in-and-of-itself was an answer. Danny buried his head in his hands and groaned. Why was he cursed with insane adults taking a liking to him? He even had this problem with ghosts! Plasmius, Clockwork, and other seemingly-unstable ghosts tended to gravitate towards him and his company.

Well, that wasn’t entirely fair to Clockwork. That ghost was probably the most mentally stable person he knew. It was just that the Master of Time was so dang  _ mysterious! _

“Can I at least take a moment to call my parents when we get there?” he asked, not really believing he’d get an answer. He was surprised when Tony looked mildly uncomfortable, and stared at the billionaire questioningly. 

“I did kinda kidnap you, didn’t I?” he asked in reply. “Sorry, Pepper’s working on that. My impulsiveness, I mean. Not the whole ‘me kidnapping you’ thing. Pepper doesn’t know about that yet, unless JARVIS was being a little  _ tattletale _ like he did  _ last _ week with the doughnuts.”

Danny shrugged, and glanced over at the man who was riding in the back. He had a feeling the man was a chauffeur or bodyguard or something. “No big deal, it’s not like I’m not used to... it...” he commented, before he really thought about what he was going to say. Open mouth, insert foot. The blue-eyed teen sunk as far down into his seat as he could.

Tony gaped at him for a full five seconds until they nearly crashed. “Um, k- I mean, Danny? Being... kidnapped... isn’t exactly normal, unless you’re a friend of mine...” he mentioned, almost casually. His strained tone belied the amusement expressed on his face, and Danny just wished he could disappear. Three years of keeping his secret locked up tight, and he had barely known this man for three  _ hours _ and he was nearly giving himself away.

“I... don’t have a believable explanation for that,” he admitted, shrugging. The damage was already done, and the teen would bet money on Tony either holding an interrogation or researching him extensively. 

Tony nodded slowly, jaw working as he thought, eyes glued to the road. “Believable explanation, or believable lie?” he stated, not really a question. 

“...” Danny knew the answer was yes to both, but he didn’t really want to give any more hints than he already had. So, he shrugged and wisely kept his mouth shut for the short remainder of their drive to Stark Tower.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, JARVIS was already researching Daniel Fenton. Tony liked to do thorough background checks. On everyone and everything he came into contact with. JARVIS was actually programmed to run a basic check on everyone Tony took an interest in, be it professional or not. Therefore, the A.I. had already been researching the teenager from the moment Danny had given his name.

When Tony and Danny reached their destination, JARVIS was already compiling the information he’d gathered into a report. It wasn’t as much as he would normally find, but what he did get was fairly telling. Either Daniel Fenton was involved in the underground, or there was some other, more inexplicable thing going on. As soon as Daniel was distracted, the A.I. would give the information to Tony to look over and decide what to do.

And that was exactly what happened when Danny made the call to his parents and left a message on their phones about being with Tony and the fact that the billionaire was attending the same dinner party they were. 

Tony didn’t know what to make of the info JARVIS had dug up. Danny’s parents were close friends with a rival of his, Vlad Masters, and it appeared that Danny  _ had _ been kidnapped a number of times over the past three years. He also discovered that ghosts existed, and more often than not attacked Amity Park, Minnesota. Those weren’t the only interesting things going on with the high school senior, though. His grades were very low for an incredibly intelligent boy, and his attendance had more holes than Natasha’s firearm practice targets. 

He honestly didn’t know how to react. He was almost never speechless, but he couldn’t look at that teenager in the same way again, there were things that didn’t make sense about him, and based on what JARVIS had scrounged up, the poor kid had been through a lot.

So, when Danny walked over to him, he did the only thing he could do, and invited him up to the Avengers’ shared living room for some snacks and video games. Mental autopilot was so helpful, sometimes.

 

* * *

 

Danny saw the tablet in Tony’s hands and the pale expression on the billionaire’s face, and knew that he saw the records from Amity Park. The halfa wasn’t sure how many times he had officially gone “missing” for over a day, without explanation, but it was a fair number, and it had only been growing since ghosts started kidnapping him or his friends.

The halfa was actually prepared to pull a disappearing act before Tony had stiffly invited him upstairs to play video games. Danny realized that he just needed time to process the information, whatever he had read, and calmly accepted. He flashed a warm smile at the genius and watched a little bit of the tension melt away. At least he still had that effect on people.

The elevator trip up was very quiet, and Danny occupied himself by eagerly examining the New York City skyline. It really was an amazing view, and he hadn’t gotten the chance to fly over the city yet. It was on his to-do list for the week, right up there with making sure that there weren’t any natural ghost portals that could be a danger to humans.

Danny silently hoped that no one would be up in the common area, but with his luck, he was entirely prepared for the entire Avengers team to be gathered together in that room with the sole purpose of interrogating the new kid. 

Hey, pessimism meant he could be pleasantly surprised, or right. Any boy, did he hope he was pleasantly surprised this time.

 

* * *

 

Pleasantly surprised it was. When the elevator doors opened, a dazed Tony lead the way to one of the large, comfy-looking couches in front of a giant flatscreen with all of the latest gaming systems. There was already a tall, muscular blond man sitting there, and the teen recognized him as Captain America. It looked like he was watching... the history channel. Huh, Danny wouldn’t have pegged him as being interested in world history.

_ “Well, that  _ does _ make sense, for a guy who was frozen in ice for decades...” _ the teenager admitted to himself.  _ “Maybe he’s just trying to make sense of things. A lot of ghosts become more interested in history, once they arrive in the Ghost Zone.” _

Tony mumbled a brief hello and sat Danny down on the couch next to the Captain. “You can play whatever you want, or watch what Cap’s watching. I’ll be back in a minute. I need to get... snacks...” he stated.

After Tony shuffled away, the raven-haired teen let out a long sigh. He turned to see the blond man staring at him curiously, and offered his hand.

“Danny Fenton. Tony helped me in a robotics competition, then sort of almost kidnapped me here. Not that I mind, I didn’t really have anything better to do,” he drawled, smiling. “Nice to meet you, ah, uh...”

The man gave him a hesitant smile in return. “Captain Steve Rogers. You can call me Steve, if you like. Do you know why he’s so...”

“Out of it?” Danny finished, rolling his eyes. “He may or may not have discovered part of my life story in the past half-hour. Our town’s criminals are a little... unconventional, to say the least. I’ve experienced a lot over the past three years.”

Steve nodded slowly, and asked, “Unconventional? What do you mean?”

The teen shrugged. “Ghosts, mostly. No one really does anything worse than stealing or drugs, these days. There’s just too much chaos to bother,” he answered, leaning back. He was right, the couch  _ was _ comfy. Maybe he could take a nap, later. “I can’t remember the last time we had an actual murder on our hands. That... that  _ wasn’t _ committed by a ghost.”

“Ghosts? As in, a dead person’s soul?” the first Avenger repeated, trying to wrap his head around the concept of those sorts of beings actually existing. First aliens, now ghosts. What was next? Vampires? Werewolves? Steve groaned.

Danny nodded sagely. “It’s not as much of a problem as you’d expect, but the town has had some major crises over the past three years. One time, the entire town got sucked into an alternate dimension known as the ‘Ghost Zone’.”

Steve just gave up attempting to make sense of ghosts and buried his face in his hands. “How? How is the future so...  _ weird? _ ” he whined. Danny just patted him consolingly on the shoulder and smiled.

“Believe me, this isn’t weird. I’ve seen what future ten years from now can look like, and this is pretty simple. Except for the aliens, I guess. I didn’t see  _ that _ coming.” The teen frowned, crossing his arms. 

Steve gave him an odd look, but it went unnoticed by the raven-haired boy. Danny missed his slip of the tongue this time. The blonde super soldier leaned back to consider all he’d heard from Danny up to that point. That Danny had seen a possible future was very unusual in and of itself, but that could have just been an incident with another ghost, by the way the teen was talking about them.

Tony came back just then, looking infinitely better than before. He had a carton of fresh blueberries, a couple bags of chips, and a plate of pizza rolls. Danny wondered how he had time to make the pizza rolls when he was still sorting through the distress of learning what Danny’s human life was like, but maybe Tony’s self-autopilot was better than he gave him credit for.

“Squirt, you and your town need help. Like,  _ major _ help,” he commented.

He rolled his blue eyes. “We’re fine, thanks for asking. How’s learning my life story going for you? Don’t tell me you  _ didn’t _ research my background, because I know you did. After that comment I accidentally made on the way here...”

Tony nodded and frowned. “You’ve got a lot going on. Where do you go when you skip school? Nobody’s been able to figure that out, yet. I would have, but your city doesn’t have traffic cameras up at the intersections. Why is that? Most cities, even rural towns, have those.”

“I dunno. Probably cause the city can’t afford to keep repairing them after every ghost fight that destroys them,” he wondered aloud. He was secretly relieved that his hometown couldn’t afford to keep the traffic cams in order after all that destruction.

“Ghost fights, ghost fights, that is so cool,” Tony continued on, remembering what Amity Park was famous for now. “Does anyone ever get hurt? Who fights the ghosts? Your parents? Other ghost hunters, too, I bet. Are there any friendly ghosts? I mean, they’re like people, right? Dead people. How does that work, anyway?”

Danny laughed and held his hands up. “Stop, stop! Too many questions! Mostly, no one ever gets hurt, except for the ghost hunters and the ghosts. There have been a few occasions, though... I  _ hate  _ it when I- they can’t be saved in time. .. but to answer your other questions, yeah, my parents and some other hunters fight the ghosts, but they can’t really do much against them. The Red Huntress is also a pretty good ghost hunter, and there’s another person, a ghost, who’s responsible for protecting the town. His name’s Phantom. White hair, green eyes, a black and white hazmat suit. Can’t miss him.”

“Phantom. What an incredibly stereotypical name,” the billionaire drawled, chuckling.

Steve rolled his eyes, and focused on the earlier part of what Danny said. “You put a heavy emphasis on ‘hate’, earlier. Did something happen to someone close to you, or... what?”

Shrugging, Danny frowned. “I guess I feel kind of protective over the town. My parents’ research is what made all this happen, really. There are natural portals to the Ghost Zone, but those are usually spread out and completely random, not to mention rare. My parents’ artificial portal is what allows ghosts to get through to the human world all the time. I just feel kind of responsible.”

The Captain could understand wanting to protect people. That was mainly why he wanted to join the army when he was just a kid. “I understand. You have to realize, though, you  _ aren’t  _ responsible for all those people. Be a hero when you can, but remember your own safety, too. We can’t  _ all _ be super soldiers,” he advised, smiling a little at the joke.

The teen grinned. “Yeah, I know. I’ve just always been the self-sacrificing type.”

Tony rolled his eyes and mumbled, “I’m surrounded by bleeding hearts, great.” 

With that, the three of them settled in to play some games. Most of it was teaching Steve how to play them, but it was still a fun experience. Five o’clock rolled around before they knew it, and the trio had spent an enjoyable afternoon together.


	4. High Society Sucks

 

When Tony had said that they were going to the same dinner party, Danny had thought that meant the billionaire would be responsible and send him back to his hotel around five o’clock that evening. He didn’t expect to be very, very wrong and have the philanthropist drag him out to a high-end store and buy him an Armani suit an hour before the event. Yes, Tony had been responsible and gotten Danny ready for the party, just not in the way the halfa expected.

Steve wasn’t attending the dinner party, but he did come along to laugh at his new friend being dressed up like a doll several times before the tailors found something they liked on him. He ended up with a black suit, dark blue waistcoat, and a silvery-blue tie. Danny had to admit that it looked very good on him, and it accentuated his slim, toned physique.

When the tailors asked him to take off his shirt in front of the other two men, he had gotten  _ really _ anxious. Like, panicking anxious. He had trouble breathing, which meant it was a good thing he didn’t need to breathe as often as normal humans. 

Danny didn’t want his new friends to see his scars. Tony probably already knew that he had muscles, and there was no reason to hide how strong he was around these people. It was nothing compared to how strong Steve was, at least, without his ghostly strength. The scars, though, those would give away too much. They’d want to know how he got them, and why there were  _ so many _ . 

The teen played the ‘awkward, shy kid’ card as a last ditch effort to hide himself. 

“I- uh, please, can I...” he mumbled, being herded to the raised dais the tailors had their guinea pig― I mean, customer ―stand on. “I’m... kind of shy. Tony? Could you and Steve leave while I’m getting dressed?”

Steve nodded and answered for Tony, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him out of the room. When they were gone, the two tailors assigned to Danny wasted no time in getting him stripped down and dressed up. It only took three tries before they found something they were all happy with, and the two Avengers were called back into the room.

Tony smirked at the embarrassed but happy smile Danny wore as he examined himself in the mirror. Steve just chuckled warmly, glad that his new friend wasn’t too traumatized by the experience. The tailors were off to the side, looking a bit uncomfortable. They smiled when they caught sight of the teen’s awed expression in the mirror, though.

“So, Danny, what do you think?” Tony drawled, amusement coloring his tone.

Danny spun around and gave him a huge grin. “It’s awesome! I look great! This is so much better than the dinky old suit I have sitting in my hotel room. Not to mention a lot more stylish. Are you sure about getting this for me?” he replied enthusiastically.

Tony grinned back, and said, “Yeah, squirt. Don’t worry about it, I’ve got enough money to get thousands of Armani suits and still have plenty left over to live comfortably for the rest of my life, as short as it may be with that shrapnel trying to get to my heart.”

Steve frowned at the reminder that his teammate’s life was constantly in danger without the miniature arc reactor in his chest. “Trust me, Danny, Tony loves spending his money on expensive things. Why else would he build a giant tower in the middle of New York?”

The teen shrugged. “I don’t know. Thanks, though. Today was a lot of fun.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “You’re staying for the week, right? How about you come hang out with us again? I can actually show you my workshop next time, and maybe we could build something, or upgrade the robot dog you you made.”

Danny thought about that, and the idea of giving a completed robot dog to Skulker was too good. Maybe Technus could even fully animate it, or show him how. “Alright,” he replied. “That sounds like a lot of fun. I was gonna get bored with the Expo after the third or fourth day, anyway.”

Steve patted him on the back. “Thanks for teaching me how to play video games.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, the teen grinned, an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. “It was no big deal. You can’t really live in modern society without knowing  _ something _ about gaming, it’s kind of unfair to leave you in the dark like that.”

“Still,” the blond pressed, “thanks. I’ll look forward to your next visit. You and Tony should be heading to the venue now, it’s getting close to seven. Don’t want your parents to worry, do you?” He shooed the other two on.

The teen let out a snort. “They probably wouldn’t even notice I’m gone if it weren’t for the fact that I’m the only person they know here. Back home, the only times they notice I’m missing is if I break curfew and come in through the front door when they’re in the living room.”

Tony glanced over Danny’s head at Steve’s dark expression. The muscle-head soldier didn’t even know about their young friend’s school records or constant kidnappings and he was reacting this way to unobservant parents. The genius was pretty sure that Danny just gained a new mother-hen.

Now it was Tony’s turn to herd them along. “Alright, squirt, let’s get to the car. The Cap’s right, we need to get to the venue. I’m usually late, but the bouncers probably won’t be as lenient towards a teenager, even if they are with me,” he commanded, guiding them along.

Steve watched the dark-haired duo slide into a royal blue Ferrari, which he had a feeling Tony picked because it went well with their suits, and gave a brief wave as they drove away. He wanted to know what about Danny’s life had made Tony so dazed earlier, aside from the whole ‘ghost attacks’ thing. The teen mentioning how unobservant his parents were had reminded him of the discussion they had when they were introduced, and he knew JARVIS would have more info for him. He just had to get back to the tower, first.

 

* * *

 

Tony, Danny discovered, didn’t like people driving him around, if he could help it. He had a chauffeur, Harold “Happy” Hogan, but almost never drove him around. It was the exact opposite with Vlad, and that didn’t really surprise him much.

Tony and Vlad, though both billionaires, were about as different as you could get. Vlad craved power and notoriety where Tony couldn’t care less. Vlad was suave and controlled, while Tony was reckless and wild. The teen found it refreshing, honestly. Very few people in his life were reckless like Tony was, and sometimes people needed a little ‘wild’. 

Sam was strong, independent, and generally sensible. Tucker was quieter, geeky, and fun to be around. He was less likely to fight head-on like Danny or Sam or Valerie. Jazz was very sensible and responsible, a pillar holding her younger brother up. Danny could always rely on those five in times of need, and he was grateful for that. 

Tony reminded him of a milder, kinder version of Dan, honestly. From what Sam said, he was a general dick to people he wasn’t friends with, and was probably a dick to his friends, too. Just because he hadn’t really had a chance to see the genius like that didn’t mean he wasn’t. So, Danny went along with the man and had fun. He probably wouldn’t ever see Tony again after the week was up, anyway.

“So, what’s a dinner party like with you?” the raven-haired teen asked curiously. He had been to a few semi-formal dinner parties with Vlad and Sam, but this was different, and he knew it. He didn’t want to make a huge mistake and embarrass himself or his family.

Tony shrugged. “Not much. It’s actually kind of dull. I have to  _ behave _ at these things, or at least, that’s what Pepper says.” He paused, then explained. “Pepper Potts, my ex-PA and current CEO of Stark Industries. I mentioned her before, didn’t I?”

Danny nodded. “You did, but you didn’t elaborate. Basically, this is a very high-class dinner where everyone dresses up and there’s a lot of social maneuvering?” He thought of what Vlad had said to him before about formal parties. There was a lot of empty flattery involved.

The man snorted. “Yeah, pipsqueak, that’s  _ exactly  _ what formal dinner parties are. A huge bore. And if you’re lucky, your parents will let me take you with me when I escape early.” He flashed a cocky grin at the teen when Danny laughed, and pulled up into the parking lot.

“If I’m lucky,” Danny agreed. 

A valet came to take the car, but Happy waved him away and slid into the driver’s seat. Tony would call when he wanted to leave, and until then, Happy would return to Stark Tower with the expensive car to ensure its safety.

The entrance to the building was large and ornately decorated, with tall windows and delicate stone carvings that just screamed ‘ridiculously wealthy’. The security took one look at Tony, waved him on, and scanned their list for Danny’s name. It didn’t take long, since his parents had already come by, and they weren’t really forgettable in  _ any _ circumstances. 

“You two have a nice evening. There’s free seating for most of the guests, given that  _ plus ones _ are allowed. Go on in, Mr. Stark, Mr. Fenton,” one of the large, black-suited men instructed. His face was expressionless, and reminded Danny a bit of Pariah Dark’s skeleton thralls.

Inside, people in fine dresses and well-tailored suits were mingling casually, the sharp tinkle of polite laughter spread across the large hall. Off to one side, the ghost teen spied his father’s hulking form and chuckled. He seemed way out of his depth there.

“Tony,” he called, getting his friend’s attention, “I’m gonna go talk to my parents for a minute, see how they’re doing. Do you want me to come and find you before we’re seated? You said these parties were really boring.”

The billionaire shook his head. “I’ll find you. I’ve got some people I have to meet up with, so I can’t goof off the whole evening. Oh, hey,” he replied, remembering something. “Remember to ask about leaving early!”

Danny waved in agreement as he strolled away, carefully dodging people left and right. It wouldn’t do to bump into someone and make them spill their drink. He had been to enough events that ended badly, thank you very much.

“Mom, Dad!” he exclaimed, pulling their attention away from their conversation. The two ghost hunters beamed when they saw him, and the teen noticed his mother taking in his new apparel. He grinned and turned. “Do you like it?”

His dad slapped him on the back cheerfully. “You look great, Danny!”

“Yes, sweetie. Where did you get it, though? That money I gave you couldn’t have bought  _ that _ nice of a suit...” she trailed off, trying to work it out herself.

Danny shrugged. “Like I said in the message I left you,” he replied, “I sort of got kidnapped by Tony Stark. Apparently, he likes blowing his money on completely superfluous things like a new Armani suit for a teenager he just met a few hours ago.”

Maddie’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh... um...”

He just shrugged again. Steve and Tony’s combined reassurance that it was no big deal had made him finally give in and accept the outfit as a gift. He still wasn’t sure why they wanted to do that for him, but continuing to turn it down would’ve been rude. 

“Yeah. Sorry I couldn’t meet up with you, but since Tony’s attending this party, too, he wanted to save time and just bring me along. That okay?” Danny asked hesitantly.

Maddie crossed her arms and frowned. “Sometimes your father and I would appreciate you spending a little time with us, you know. You’re gone so often, after all.  _ But _ ,” she continued, frown softening into a smile, “I guess it’s alright. You had fun, and you let us know where you were. God knows you’re nearly eighteen, after all. You can make your own decisions.”

“Thanks, Mom.” He hugged her, and glanced around at the other guests.

Jack had already gone off in search of hor'dourves and Maddie was looking a bit lost in the high society environment. She was a scientist, not a socialite, and her son could tell this was a bit out of her comfort zone. He bumped shoulders with his mom and gave her a comforting grin to ease her nerves.

“I bet Vlad would die a little if he saw Dad raiding the hor'dourves here,” he commented, thinking of amusing scenarios to taunt the fruitloop with. Their relationship was no longer an intense hatred/arch-nemeses, but prank wars were still to be had on occasion.

“I would, but I don’t want to half-ass the job,” a suave, low voice spoke up from behind the mother-son duo. Danny spun around, shocked, and glared.

“Don’t startle me like that, Vlad! You remember what happened last time?” Danny complained, crossing his arms in a huff.

Last time, Danny put two holes in Vlad’s cape, one from each hand. He had been really stressed out that week, and a high-strung Danny meant a hair-trigger ectoblast Danny. Neither of them wanted to relive that experience, as evidenced by the apologetic look on Vlad’s face.

“Yes, of course, my bad,” he replied, grimacing. “I was just chatting when I noticed your father come charging across the room, and I knew that he wouldn’t be here alone, so I decided to come say hello. You and Maddie look very nice, tonight.” 

The teen frowned. “Not to be rude, but why are you here? Last I checked, this was a formal dinner hosted by Stark Industries, one of your competitors,” the raven-haired youth asked, suspiciously curious. 

Vlad smirked. “I received an invitation, courtesy of one Miss Potts. She and the Board of Directors for Stark Industries wished to...  _ improve  _ their business relationship with my company, since they recently stopped marketing weapons.”

Business politics, then. Danny’s head hurt when he tried to think about the different levels of manipulation and subterfuge involved in the upper echelons of corporations. He had picked up a lot from his ex-arch-enemy, but politics still gave him a headache. Being a ghostly vigilante was so much easier, in his opinion.

“Great. Whatever. Nice to see you, too. I’ve gotta go...  _ socialize _ , or whatever. Have fun with your business ventures,” Danny commented, excusing himself. There was another fifteen minutes until dinner began, and Tony still hadn’t come to rescue him from the clutches of the wealthy. He wasn’t sure what to do, other than try to find someone else around his age to chat with, and that was practically hopeless.

He wanted nothing more than to go ghost and fly far,  _ far _ away.


	5. Business Rivals Meet

 

Those fifteen minutes were some of the weirdest of his life. Three minutes after excusing himself from conversation with Vlad and his Mom, Danny literally ran into Tony. He had been speed walking away from a group of older ladies who had thought he was the cutest thing since corgi puppies and wanted to pinch his cheeks and feed him hor’dourves. Old ladies were apparently the same no matter where you went. The only old lady who hadn’t done anything like that was Sam’s grandma Ida.

So, while looking over his shoulder, Danny sped up and ran right into the billionaire he had spent the afternoon with, playing video games. Thankfully, Tony was adept at not spilling his drink, or the teen would’ve felt immensely guilty for the collision. As it was, he was still pretty apologetic to the other man.

“Oh, sorry, Tony! I didn’t mean to run into you, I was just esc... um, politely hurrying away from some older ladies. They can be scary when they want to,” Danny apologized, head ducked in embarrassment. He had changed the wording of his sentence when he noticed a pretty red-headed lady standing in front of Tony.

She seemed familiar from somewhere, probably a magazine or tabloid he had glanced at. Her stance was strong despite being a thin, delicate-looking woman, and she had an air of professionalism about her. He flashed a polite smile and looked to the billionaire for introductions.

Tony patted him on the shoulder with an understanding grimace. “Hey, squirt. This,” he gestured to his lady friend, “is Pepper Potts. My CEO. She’s the one we have to behave for, ‘cause she can be scary when she’s angry.”

Pepper smiled sweetly. “All women can, Tony. It’s part of how we get men like you to do what you’re supposed to, and not what you  _ want _ to.” She offered a hand to Danny in greeting.

Danny felt his manners training from Vlad and Clockwork (surprisingly enough) kick in, and took her hand, gently pressing his lips to it. “Danny Fenton. Nice to meet you, Miss Potts. Tony mentioned you before, you seem to be a very capable person.”

She blushed and smoothed down her dress when he released her hand. “Thank you, you’re such a sweet boy. How did you and Tony meet? Forgive me, but you don’t really seem to be the type of person he’d hang around with,” she replied.

Danny frowned. “No, I’m not, really. I accidentally roped him into programming a robot for me during a competition at Stark Expo,” he answered. Then he glanced at Tony. “Why  _ did _ you decide to hang out with me?”

Tony was still a little surprised by Danny’s greeting to Pepper, and was brought back to reality by the teenager’s question. “Your talent for engineering. You’ve got a lot of potential, didn’t I say that? You’re just untrained. When I brought you back to the Tower, I was going to show you my workshop, and maybe give you some pointers.”

The raven-haired teen nodded in understanding. “But then you got distracted, and needed some time to process what you learned, so we ended up playing video games with Steve all afternoon. Got it.”

Pepper looked mildly surprised, but after years around Tony, she had learned to roll with the punches, so to speak. “Well, at least you didn’t get into trouble. Remember, Tony, no giving Danny alcohol, and try to avoid clubbing, will you? He doesn’t look twenty-one, I’d rather not risk you getting him arrested.”

Crossing his arms, Tony let out an indignant huff. “I  _ know _ , Pepper. I wasn’t gonna do anything like  _ that _ with him! Besides, even if I wanted to, Cap wouldn’t let me. I just know he’s gonna mother-hen Danny until he leaves.”

The red-head opened her mouth to make another teasing comment when a familiar face strolled up to the trio. She blinked, and forced a smile. “Oh, hello, Mr. Masters. How are you liking the party so far?”

Danny rolled his eyes as Tony stuck out his tongue at Pepper when she wasn’t paying attention. If Vlad was involved, Pepper would probably be the only person there actually acting like an adult, before long. 

“Little badger, you didn’t tell me you were... acquainted with Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts,” Vlad commented, eyebrows rising. He smirked at the annoyed glare the teen sent him. Turning to Pepper, he replied smoothly, “It’s a lovely party, and I was pleasantly surprised to see some old friends here. Daniel’s parents are attending Stark Expo as lecturers, aren’t they?”

Tony watched the interaction between Danny and Vlad with interest, trying to puzzle out the best way to annoy the other man. Danny seemed annoyed at the over-familiarity Vlad was showing towards him, so Tony wrapped an arm around the teen’s shoulders and smirked.

“We met at the Expo earlier today. Built a robot, played video games, I bought him a new Armani suit. He’s a lot of fun. You’re a family friend, then?” Tony replied to Vlad’s earlier question about them knowing each other. If the twitch in the other billionaire’s left eye was any indicator, he had succeeded in his endeavor. 

Danny noticed this, too, and chuckled quietly. “Yeah, Tony programmed a robot for me, since programming was always Tucker’s specialty. He’s gonna teach me a bit about engineering so I can improve my skills.”

It was the word ‘teach’ that did it. Vlad’s polite, forced smile melted into an angry glare, directed solely at Tony. Danny didn’t hold any real malice towards the other halfa, but he still hadn’t accepted Vlad’s constant offers of apprenticeship. It was easy to tease the other halfa with what Tony had mentioned, even if he hadn’t meant to do it..

Pepper, bless her heart, saw an incoming fistfight (that would have escalated into something much more dangerous, given that both participants were supers), and quickly stepped between the two rival billionaires. She checked her watch and sighed in relief.

“Hey, how about we all go and sit down? It’s just about time for dinner,” she pressed, grabbing Danny herself. To him, she whispered, “Do you want to sit with me? I don’t know if we can find your parents before it’s time to order.”

Danny nodded quickly. “Good thinking back there,” he muttered. “Let me tell you, you do  _ not _ want a fight between those two. I’ve heard what Tony can do when he suits up, and they’re both good with sarcasm. It’d be a snark-fest-turned-superpowered-fistfight.” 

The woman just gave him an odd look and accepted that. “You seem close with Masters. Is he really a family friend? I didn’t know he  _ had _ any friends. He reminds me of Tony, just colder and more manipulative. Maybe more controlled, too.”

“Yeah, he and my parents were friends in college. I used to hate him, but we worked out our differences a couple years ago,” he answered. “He wants me to be his apprentice, so the whole ‘teaching’ thing is a sore point for him. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that to him, but it just slipped out.”

She nodded slowly and gave him a serious look. “I don’t know much about Vlad Masters or your relationship with him, but he’s always seemed kind of lonely to me. You probably hurt him a bit by taking Tony’s offer, knowing what he wanted from you.”

Danny ducked his head in shame. Now that she pointed it out... Pepper was right. That was a really mean thing to do. He wasn’t fourteen anymore, he was better than that.

“Now, you’re young, and human.” He mentally snorted at the second part. “You make mistakes, but you can learn from them. You have time to grow and change before you’re expected to do everything perfectly, all the time. Just, try to understand how Mr. Masters might feel. You said you worked things out, so it shouldn’t be that hard to apologize later.”

Pepper made a lot of sense. In a way, she reminded Danny of his older sister, and not just in appearance. She had the responsible wisdom he had missed when Jazz went off to college. It was refreshing.

“Thanks,” Danny sighed, sincerity lacing his voice. “I needed that. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that enemies, even if they’re your allies now, have feelings just like you do.”

He missed her shocked expression as he sat down at the table, so he didn’t realize just how much more he had given away. With the implications from earlier that Vlad had powers or some kind of technology that could give him powers, like Tony, and the statement that implied the two of them had been enemies once upon a time, things began to click about the older teen that hadn’t occurred to Pepper before.

Steve wasn’t the only one who felt a need to research the teen’s background.

 

* * *

 

The duo’s escape from the billionaire rivals didn’t last long, though. Both of them joined Pepper and Danny at their table, glaring daggers at each other until the food arrived. Conversation was non-existent, and Danny spent most of the wait texting Tucker about what happened to him that day. 

Tucker was thrilled that his best friend had gotten to hang out with  _ the _ Tony Stark, genius inventor, programmer, and Iron Man. He was insanely envious, but very proud of Danny for being good enough to catch Tony’s attention. He agreed to update Sam on the situation, and found it hilarious that Vlad and Tony nearly got into a fistfight because of Danny.

When the food arrived, some of the tension eased. The blue-eyed teen actually felt it safe enough to talk to the people he was seated with. He had a few bites of his very tender steak and smiled shyly at the table occupants.

“So, you two obviously don’t like each other,” Danny commented, gesturing to Vlad and Tony. The two stopped glaring at the other to look curiously at Danny. 

“Why are you trying to make a business alliance?” he asked.

Vlad sent a dirty look at Tony before answering Danny’s question. “I’m not making a business alliance with  _ Stark _ , I’m making one with Ms. Potts and Stark Industries. There is a slight distinction there that makes it tolerable to myself, but it’s a nuance I wouldn’t expect you to understand just yet, Daniel.”

Danny frowned, and threw back, “Why not? I’ve picked up a lot from you over the past three years, and lessons with... the resident history buff have polished some of that. I may not  _ like _ business politics, but at least I understand most of it.”

Vlad blinked at that. “You’ve been having lessons with Cl-” he exclaimed, cutting himself off before he could give anything away. Tony and Pepper might’ve played it off as an odd nickname, but Pepper was very intuitive and clever. He didn’t want to risk it.

The teen nodded seriously. “Yeah, he  _ is _ my guardian there, after all. He has a responsibility to teach me about the history of that place.” He glanced over at Tony and Pepper, coming up with a good explanation. “Summer camp I usually go to. My favorite counselor is a history buff, and history involves a  _ lot _ of politics.”

Tony knew there was something off about that. “You’ve only been to camp once, though.”

Danny grimaced. He forgot that registering for camps and things would show up if the billionaire dug deep enough. “That you know of,” he replied quietly. Maybe that would make Tony unsure of what he’d discovered. Or it would make him dig deeper. Who knew? Not Danny, that’s for sure.

Vlad sighed. “Alright, little badger, finish your food. We can talk more about business after we’re done, if that’s what you’d like,” he drawled, gently scooping up some of his creamy soup. That interaction had sucked the remaining tension out of the air, and drained some of the energy from both halfas. They were tired of fighting each other.

Danny just nodded placidly and continued eating. Tony and Pepper shared a concerned glance, and the rest of their meal was spent in silence.

When it came time to go back to socializing, the teen turned down Tony’s offer of an early escape. Besides the fact that he didn’t have any energy left to spend with people, be them new friends or not, he wanted to apologize to Vlad before either of them left.

“I’ll be at the Expo again,” Danny said. “If you still want to hang out with me, we can exchange phone numbers, but I’m a little too tired tonight. I’ve also got something I have to do before I leave, so I’ll go back with my parents. They’re probably about ready to head out, too.”

The genius frowned, but accepted Danny’s decision. “Alright, squirt. I’ll come get you tomorrow, and then you can see my workshop. I bet Steve would be disappointed if I didn’t bring you back, anyway.”

The teen chuckled tiredly. “Yeah. See you tomorrow.” 

Tony watched him disappear into the crowd of party-goers, surprised at how fast the teen could blend in and vanish. He wondered if he should introduce Danny to Natasha, briefly, before deciding that that was a  _ really _ bad idea. If he was this good at disappearing now... he didn’t really want to see what training would allow the kid to do.

The genius turned back to find Pepper, Danny’s comment  _ “that you know of” _ floating around in his mind. 


	6. Interesting Discoveries

 

It took the young halfa another ten minutes to find Vlad. The first thing he did was check in with his parents and make sure they weren’t unhappy with him for eating dinner with other people and to make sure they were planning to leave soon. If they hadn’t been, he always could have flown back to the hotel, but it was easier to just go along with his parents’ wishes.

Pepper was right about needing to apologize. The guilt he felt when he realized that he’d hurt the older man hadn’t lessened, and even if it had, he would still have gone and been a responsible person. Even if he didn’t intend to, he had hurt Vlad, and he really  _ was _ sorry. It had just popped into his mind, but he hadn’t considered how it would make Vlad feel, kind of like that time where he got the Guys in White to blow up the billionaire’s mansion with all of the Packers paraphernalia in it. There were some lines not meant to be crossed.

So, when he stumbled upon the suave billionaire, he gently tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he could spare a minute from his conversation. Vlad was mildly surprised, since he had to seek Danny out each time they had spoken that evening.

“Of course, Daniel,” he responded, and excused himself from the group of socialites. “What is it you want?” He looked the teen up and down, taking in his somber, tired expression and fidgeting hands.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier,” Danny blurted suddenly. “When you showed up, and obviously didn’t like Tony, I was a little callous with what I said to you. I didn’t stop to think about whether or not I’d hurt your feelings.”

Vlad went wide-eyed with surprised. “Really?” he asked.

The teen nodded sadly. “We’re not enemies anymore. We haven’t been for over a year now, and the situation just reminded me of your offers to teach me. Truth is, I’ve been kind of scared of agreeing to be your apprentice, even though I want to, because I’m still going to be a hero, and I’m still going to do my own thing. I’d really appreciate some extra training, maybe even a sparring match or two, but you’ve always been so dead-set on me being your evil son or whatever, and I can’t do that. I can’t let myself do that.”

Vlad gripped his shoulder, a pained expression on his face. “I understand, little badger. You’re not the only one who’s done a bit of growing up over the past few years. When I struck an alliance with you, I accepted that you’d never agree to be my son, or turn evil. I still  _ see _ you as a son, but I know that oaf of a father you have will always take that place in your heart.”

“Yeah,” Danny muttered. He looked Vlad square in the eyes, entirely serious. “I am sorry, though, and I really would like it if we could train together, no strings attached, no conditions. You could stop trying to be ‘Vlad the father’ and accept the ‘honorary uncle’ title my dad has always wanted you to have.”

The older man smiled gently. “I’d like that, Daniel. Thank you.”

 

* * *

 

Tony arrived back at the tower only to find Steve waiting for him in the parking garage, tuning up his bike to keep busy. The blond super soldier looked up as the sleek Ferrari pulled into its empty spot and watched as Tony turned it off and hopped out.

“Tony,” he said, face grim, “we need to have a talk.”

The billionaire looked at the stack of papers in his hands, no doubt info printed by JARVIS for the technologically-handicapped Cap. He furrowed his brows, and muttered, “About Danny?” 

When Steve nodded, he motioned for the soldier to follow, leading the way to the elevator and up to the common floor. JARVIS had already begun to look for more information, prompted by a text Tony sent earlier. They had to piece it all together now.

When they were both seated at the counter separating the kitchen from the living room, Steve turned towards Tony and spread out the papers. Tony noticed that he had made notes whenever something seemed particularly important.

Steve glanced at the other man. Tony’s face was pensive, eyes unseeing. “You spent the evening with him, did he give anything away that might be a hint to all... this?” he asked, waving his arm in a sweeping gesture at the papers.

The genius frowned. “A bit. He knew Vlad Masters, a business rival of mine, and apparently Masters wants Danny to be his apprentice, or something. They also have a mutual friend who’s a history buff, and a camp counselor, too, but I think the second part was a lie.”

Shaking his head, the super soldier let out a barking laugh. “This isn’t getting any more simple as we learn more. Are you sure there isn’t anything else?”

“Let’s recap,” Tony drawled. “The kid is the son of two scientists who specialize in  _ ghosts _ , which have managed to overrun the town he lives in several times in the past three years, one of which got the entire town transported to an alternate dimension. Let’s not forget that he’s used to being kidnapped, which is  _ not normal _ , his parents are apparently unobservant enough to almost never notice he’s missed curfew, and his attendance at school is spotty at best. Danny Fenton is one giant mystery wrapped in even  _ more _ mystery.”

“And you said he was a very talented engineer,” Steve added. “He seems like a really smart kid, but his grades certainly don’t show it. Both his parents and sister are geniuses, it’s hard to believe that the intelligence gene skipped him.”

The billionaire nodded slowly, processing that in addition to the other things they’d learned over the course of the day. “It’s not uncommon for gifted kids to do badly in school. The American education system isn’t really designed for people outside the norm.”

He had wondered about Danny’s grades in passing, because the teen was so obviously smarter than what they indicated, but it hadn’t really stuck out compared to the number of times he had been missing for over a day, or the fact that he hadn’t been to the hospital for even a routine checkup in three years.

That fact, the lack of yearly checkups, had been the most suspicious and alarming. Tony had heard of many cases where a mutant or someone with inborn powers had emphatically avoided physicals, checkups, blood work, anything that could possibly give them away.

Quietly, he slid the sheet with Danny’s medical records over to the blond. He watched as Steve’s eyes widened in realization, and sighed. If they were right, and Danny had some kind of power, this could be a lot more complicated than they thought.

“Do you really think...?” Steve asked hesitantly. He didn’t want to assume.

Tony grimaced. “Yeah. It’s the best explanation that we have. It doesn’t  _ really _ explain why he misses school so often, or why he just vanishes for days at a time, but it’s the best we’ve got. He hinted that I wouldn’t be able to find all of the information on him, anyway.”

_ “That you know of...” _ That comment was persistent. It didn’t want to be ignored. Tony wanted to figure it out. He wasn’t bored, for once, and he was growing more concerned about the state of his new friend, in addition to having been given a new, complicated puzzle. 

“How about introducing him to some of the other Avengers?” Tony pondered. 

Shrugging, the super soldier replied, “That could prove interesting. He’s here for a week, isn’t he? I think Bruce would like him, and Thor likes everybody. If the big guy drops in, that is. He’s due for a visit, isn’t he?”

“What, Thor?” the billionaire asked, for confirmation. “Yeah. In the next few weeks, at least. Y’know, Clint would probably appreciate Danny’s sarcasm more than mine. And puns. How does he even  _ make _ that many puns? It’s like he’s had training for it. And I thought  _ I _ was good at making puns. Danny’s got me beat by a mile. Do you think Natasha would hit him if she met him?”

“Why would she hit him?” Steve asked, confused by the hyperactive babble suddenly falling from the billionaire’s mouth. 

“I’m not sure. I think Pepper almost hit him, he did nearly cause a fistfight, though let’s ignore the fact that I would’ve been one of the participants,” Tony continued, pacing. “He’s really nice, most of the time, kind of polite and shy, but that dry wit he showed when we were gaming this afternoon? That was impressive. I was impressed. Were you impressed? ‘Cause I was. I didn’t expect a quiet seventeen-year-old to be anywhere  _ near _ that snarky.”

Steve groaned. “Alright, alright, I’m going to bed now. You’re too chatty. Are you planning on picking up Danny tomorrow?” he responded, pressing a hand to his forehead, trying to rid himself of the budding headache.

Tony smirked. “Of course. I still have to show him my workshop, and  _ that _ ,” he stated, still pacing, “is better than anything he could find at my expo. I may or may not just send Happy to wait at his hotel room tomorrow morning, too. Do you think he’d mind being kidnapped again?”

“Good  _ night _ , Tony,” Steve called, already at the stairwell.

He heard an amused chuckle before Tony started muttering to himself again, occasionally addressing JARVIS. With any luck, those two would find out something else that could answer their near-infinite list of questions.

 

* * *

 

“Agent Romanov,” a deep voice growled. Natasha picked up the file that was pushed across the table, face impassive. “A person of interest has been seen around Stark since around noon earlier today. I want you to investigate him, and what he’s doing around Stark and Rogers. He should be relatively passive, we have no indication of any hostility.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir. Do you want me to start immediately, or wait until he shows up around one of the Avengers again?” she asked, waiting for clarification.

Director Fury massaged his temples. It had been a  _ long _ day. “Wait until he appears near one of the Avengers again. It seems he and Stark exchanged  _ phone numbers _ ...” Just like teenage girls. Seriously, that man....

Natasha grimaced. A friend of Tony’s was likely to be just as annoying as the genius himself, in her experience. Pepper and Rhodey were the only apparent exceptions to the rule, seeing as she didn’t really consider any of the other Avengers to be Tony’s friends. Wait. She hadn’t met many of Tony’s other friends. Did he even  _ have _ other friends?

“Thank you, sir. I’ll report back to you when I know more,” she stated. 

As she was headed out the door, Fury called out for her to wait.

“You might want to take up residence in Stark Tower. It would make your job easier, and Clint will be returning there tomorrow. He likes the luxury of it better than the barracks here at the base,” he commented. “And Agent Romanov? There is a possibility that the target is Phantom.”

She sighed, shaking strands of red hair back from her face. This mission would prove interesting, that was for sure.


	7. A Quick Call Away

  
  


Back at the hotel, Danny gently closed his room’s door and slipped out onto the balcony. He needed to talk with Sam and Tucker. It had only been one day, and yet so many things had happened in that short space of time. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted.

Pulling out his cell phone, he sent off a quick text to his friends, asking them if they were up for a group conversation. Receiving positive responses, he leaned back against the cool metal railing and looked up at the sky.

New York City wasn’t a place where you could see the stars. Years of pollution, smog, and other environmental hazards mixed with bright lights from ‘the city that never sleeps’ to block out anything but low clouds and the moon itself. In that moment, Danny could really appreciate Amity Park for its small size and quiet nightlife. The two cities were about as different as night and day, summer and winter.

When he received a call from Sam (she had the better phone), he let a soft smile light up his face. His friends were always there for him, even several states away. 

“Hey, guys,” he greeted, hopping up to sit on the railing. “How’s it going back home?”

There was a quiet discussion on the other end, not loud enough for the halfa to make out, and Sam spoke up.  _ “Clockwork asked us to tell you to be careful, and to see him as soon as you got back. There’s nothing exactly dangerous, or at least, we think there isn’t, but I’d still keep my guard up.” _

Tucker added,  _ “We don’t know what’s going on in the Ghost Zone, but something big has happened, or it’s getting ready to happen. Dan said it wasn’t urgent, though. He mentioned something about a party.” _

Danny wondered what it could be. It wasn’t anywhere near Christmas, so it wasn’t the truce, but then what could it be? “Guys, is it the anniversary of anything special soon?” he asked, curious to see if they had any ideas. 

He heard a deep laugh, and sighed.  _ “Hey, kiddo. Remember what day it’ll be in a couple weeks? It may be a little  _ shocking _ to remember? It’s a big day for us both.” _ Dan liked puns just as much as Danny did, but he liked word games much more. That was from the half that was Plasmius, of course.

The halfa teen thought about it. Big day. Important to both of them. A party.  _ What could it be? _ He thought of everything. His birthday wasn’t for another two months. 

Then it hit him. “My  _ deathday?! _ ” he exclaimed. 

A dark chuckle from the other end of the line made shivers roll down his spine. Ancients, sometimes Dan could be creepy. Danny’s voice still hadn’t finished maturing, so it was halfway in between Vlad’s smooth tenor and Dan’s deep baritone. He had initially wanted to take a vow of silence when his voice started changing, because there were times when it had reached that smooth baritone his evil future self spoke in. That was before Dan was let out and ‘sent on the path to redemption’, though. These days, Danny actually enjoyed how low his voice could go, and enjoyed messing with Dash (whose voice was still in that prepubescent stage where it cracked every two sentences).

_ “Bingo, kid. It’s been nearly three years, and your allies want to celebrate. Adding to that, the Observants have something special planned that I’m not allowed to tell you about. Giving you the hint to figure out the occasion is stretching it, but Clockwork wouldn’t let me be here for this call if he didn’t want me to,”  _ Dan drawled, and the teen could almost  _ see _ his fanged grin.

Danny heard someone sigh, and chuckled. “Can you give the phone back to Sam or Tucker, now? Oh, and thanks for helping them out.”

_ “No problem, mini-me. Talk to ya later, I’ve gotta go on patrol anyway.” _

Then, Tucker took his chance.  _ “So how was dinner with Tony Stark and Vlad Masters?” _

_ “Tucker, you didn’t tell me Danny ran into Vlad!” _ Sam shouted.

Laughing, he answered, “Pretty tense. Did I tell you that I nearly got them into a fistfight? Because I did. It was almost scary how much those two disliked each other. Kinda like how Vlad hates my dad, but this time the hatred is returned. Pepper, Pepper Potts, was the only thing stopping them from battling it out right there in the middle of the party.”

_ “Nice! Are you gonna hang out with Stark some more?” _ Tucker asked curiously.

“Yeah. He’s pretty cool, and Steve is really nice. It’d be rude not to drop by and say hello when I have six days left in New York,” Danny replied. He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m just worried about what they’re going to do tomorrow. Tony kind of looked up my records and things, he likes to research people, apparently.”

_ “Dude, you don’t think they’ll figure it out, do you?” _ Tucker asked, anxiety lacing his voice.

_ “You’ve gotta be careful, Danny. They may not be the Guys in White, but the Avengers are a government-sanctioned team of heros, and they might not treat Phantom as an ally.” _ Sam sounded really concerned, and she had a right to be. 

Danny hadn’t thought of it like that before. He had missed practically all of the invasion of New York City because of a training session with Frostbite and Dani, and he hadn’t felt the need to look up information about the attack. It was over, and their people had won, so he had just shrugged it off. Sam was right, though. Tony and Steve were connected to the government, and while they may be heroes and less likely to cart him off to some facility to dissect, there was still a chance they had to report their findings to some big boss who  _ would _ have him carted off.

“Thanks, guys. I hadn’t thought of that, I’ll keep it in mind,” he finally said, after a long silence. “I keep messing up, too. I actually let it slip to Tony that I’m no stranger to kidnapping, can you believe it? Three years of almost nothing, and all it takes is one day to nearly reveal myself.”

_ “Nice going, clueless,” _ Sam commented, yawning.  _ “It’s pretty late, here. I’ve gotta get to bed or I’ll be pulling a ‘Danny’ in class tomorrow.” _

“Hey! I thought we agreed to stop calling it that!” the teen in question yelled. “And what happened to the nickname ‘clueless’ dying? I thought I was finally rid of that headache!”

Tucker and Sam laughed.  _ “Sorry dude, but it stuck.” _

Sam’s laughter could be heard as she added,  _ “‘Clueless’ didn’t die! It’s only  _ half _ -dead!” _

_ “Ugh, Sam, that’s so lame! Leave the puns to Danny and Dan! Oh, yeah, keep safe out there, okay? Talk to you later, Danny,” _ Tucker said, and there was a call of agreement from Sam. Danny exchanged farewells and tapped the ‘end call’ button, tucking the phone back in his pocket.

His friends had raised a good point about being careful. He knew he couldn’t afford more slip-ups, and he couldn’t help but worry about his new friends’ reaction to the fact that the teen they had been hanging out with the day before was half-dead. He didn’t think it’d really matter to Tony, but he wasn’t so sure about the Captain. Steve was very accepting, but he had been raised in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Old ideals were bound to get in the way of general acceptance.

As Danny changed into his sleep clothes, he desperately wished that nothing bad would happen over the next few days. With his luck, though... he wouldn’t count on it.

 

* * *

 

Breakfast was a pleasant affair for the Fenton family. Maddie had decided to order room service before Jack and Danny woke up, so everything was there, fresh and hot, by the time the two men were conscious enough to want food. Maddie had asked Danny about how his day had gone and if he was planning on spending more time with Tony and Steve, before sharing how well their lectures had gone over with the scientific community of the Expo.

“It was wonderful! Now that there’s proof ghosts exist, so many scientists are flocking to our lectures,” she exclaimed excitedly. “We even had some stay after to ask us more in-depth questions about their abilities and the technology we’ve developed to hunt them.”

Danny grinned. “Did you go on and on about how ghosts were just like people, but driven by an obsession, like you always do?” he asked. His mom and dad had finally gotten it through their heads nearly a year ago that ghosts could feel everything humans could, including love, pain, and fear, after Phantom had sat down and had a long chat with them. They still didn’t give up hunting the white-haired ghost, or most of the other ghosts who invaded Amity park, but they accepted that not all ghosts were evil, ectoplasmic scum. It made Danny so proud.

“Of course!” she replied. “What do you take me for, an amateur?” 

The raven-haired teen just shook his head, a silly grin on his face. His phone buzzed in his pocked, and he pulled it out to see a text from Tony.  _ -Happy is waiting to pick you up. Red mustang, like your sweatshirt yesterday.- _ He rolled his eyes.

“Tony’s sent someone to pick me up. Do you want me back here by any specific time?” he commented, glancing at his parents. 

“Would you actually show up at that time?” Maddie asked knowingly.

Danny shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not. Tony might decide he needs to take me shopping again, or do the exact opposite of what Pepper told him to do and take me clubbing, because he seems to only follow reverse psychology.”

His mom hugged him and kissed his cheek, while his dad slapped his back cheerfully. “Have a good day, sweetie. Try to avoid clubs, and be back before midnight,” she said, answering his earlier question.

Danny grinned. “I’ll do my best. See you later.”

With that, he pulled on his red sweatshirt, grabbed his wallet, and was out the door.

 

* * *

 

Happy was indeed waiting patiently for Danny to come down. When the chauffeur spotted the teen, he flashed Danny a friendly smile and motioned for him to follow. The ride to Stark Tower was shorter than the one from the Expo, even though there was the morning rush hour to deal with. It reminded Danny once again how strange a city New York was.

“Hey, Happy?” he muttered, wondering if there was some social protocol that dictated whether or not he could talk to his escort. “Have you met any of the other Avengers?”

The driver glanced in the rear-view mirror with a knowing smile. “Nervous?”

Danny swallowed thickly and nodded. “I mean, they’re all so impressive. I’d rather not get on anyone’s bad side, if I can avoid it. Steve and Tony are really nice, but I don’t know anyone else aside from Pepper, and she’s not an Avenger, she’s a friend of Tony’s.”

Happy nodded. “They can be intimidating, at times. I haven’t spoken much to any of them, bar Mr. Stark, but I do know that they would never hurt you. That is, unless you turn out to be a villain in disguise.” He paused, and clarified, “That was a joke. You’re a nice kid, Danny. You don’t have anything to worry about with them. I also doubt Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers would let any harm come to you. You’re their friend, now.”

Danny gave him a shaky smile. “Thanks.” Then, in a whisper, he muttered, “I really hope you’re right.” 

Happy pretended he hadn’t heard the last bit. Whatever Danny’s issues were, it was none of his business so long as the teenager wasn’t a threat to his employer. The teen hadn’t shown even the slightest bit of hostility to anyone as far as he was aware.

Before long, they were pulling into the mustang’s spot in the garage. Steve had taken the opportunity to work on his bike some more while waiting for Happy to return with Danny, and was there to greet them.

“Danny! I’m glad you could make it,” he said, grinning. “Ready to head up?”

The blue-eyed teen nodded, forcing his face to relax into a smile. Steve wasn’t acting any differently than before. That either meant he hadn’t learned anything about Danny, or he didn’t really view any of it as worthy of changing their relationship. 

As they were walking, Steve explained, “I know you’re probably not comfortable with meeting too many new people so quickly, since Tony and I are still practically strangers, but apparently Tony mentioned you to Bruce, and now our resident scientist wants to meet you, maybe discuss some of your parents’ theories, if you know them well enough.”

The prospect of meeting a scientist, who was also an Avenger, was frightening, but he nodded in agreement anyway. Nothing had changed. Steve was still being kind and warm towards him. No one had showed up to interrogate him. He was just being paranoid.

_ “You’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you,” _ the little voice in his head that reminded him of Dan said. He knew everyone had a subconscious internal voice, but sometimes he wondered if his was a little more separate because of the accident. Not that it really mattered. It only repeated things he had thought or heard before, after all.

“That would be... interesting. I’m game, I guess,” he replied casually. 

The blond man gave him a warm grin. “Great. He and Tony are ‘science bros’, whatever that means, and I think Tony was disappointed that you didn’t get to meet him yesterday. He talked me into a headache last night. I almost thought he had coffee at the party, but I know Pepper was there, and she wouldn’t have let him  _ near _ any caffeine.”

That startled a genuine laugh out of Danny. “Yeah, no, there was no caffeine involved. I’m sorry you had to deal with that, he sounds like me after not sleeping for three days straight.”

Steve chuckled at that, but then realized that what Danny said meant that he had enough experience missing three days of sleep to actually consistently behave in a certain way, and the pit of worry in his stomach grew a little. 

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Just subtract exhaustion from the mix, and you’ve got it.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Did you know I actually  _ ran _ into him at the party, and he didn’t spill his drink? Not a drop made it out of that glass. I don’t think I’ve ever been that impressed at such a generally useless skill, but that was pretty cool.”

Steve laughed at that. “What were you running from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Old ladies!” Danny exclaimed. “Those people are vicious!” 

Steve’s laughter escalated, and he asked, “To what, supermarket sales?”

As the doors to the elevator slid open and the two collapsed against the wall in fits of laughter, the teenager considered the possibility that this might actually be an enjoyable visit. They still leaned against the wall of the elevator when Tony noticed them. The billionaire stared, wide-eyed in shock, at the two of them in hysterics, frozen. And promptly snorted the scotch he was sipping out his nose. Oh yes, this would be an enjoyable visit.


	8. Science Bros and Agents

 

The scene Bruce Banner walked in on was confusing, to say the least. Tony had asked him to come meet his new friend, an older teenager he had met at the Expo the previous day. Bruce wasn’t sure why Tony wanted them to meet, but he was anxious as always about meeting a new person that he could potentially go green at and beat to a bloody pulp.

This... this was not what he had expected. Hell, what he was looking at wasn’t even in the realm of possibilities in his mind. He had never seen Steve laughing so hard, and the black-haired kid next to him was in the same condition. Tony was on the floor, shot glass discarded beside him. His hands were covering his nose and mouth, and he looked like he was in pain.

So, he did the sanest thing he could think of and backed up. Slowly.

Too bad Steve noticed him. “H-hey, B-b-bruce,” he exclaimed through his laughs. “N-nice to see you... up and ab-about!” It took him some effort, but the super soldier was managing to get his laughing fit under control.

“Uh... hi,” he replied cautiously. Waving a hand towards Tony, he dared to ask, “What happened, exactly?”

The black-haired teen spoke up, taking deep, gulping breaths. “He... he snorted scotch out his nose! I didn’t think we were  _ that _ funny! Maybe... it was the shock factor. I don’t think he’s ever... ever seen Steve laugh like that.”

Bruce nodded, slowly piecing together the situation in his mind. The teen and Steve were laughing, probably because of something the teen said, and Tony was startled into laughing while sipping his morning drink. Great.

“Do you think he-he’s okay?” Steve asked, still laughing a little. He saw Danny wipe tears from his eyes, and grinned. At least he was in a better mood than earlier. When Happy dropped him off, he looked very tense and anxious.

Bruce carefully made his way over to Tony. “Well, looks like he didn’t hit the floor from falling. He’s down here on his own power, so I wouldn’t worry. It’s just... apparently, alcohol burns worse than soda when it comes out your nose,” he stated.

The teen’s eyes widened. “Oh no, that’s... terrible,” he managed to get out, before breaking into giggles again. Steve patted him on the shoulder, sitting up, and looked over at the scientist who had yet to be introduced.

“So, Bruce, this is Danny Fenton,” he said with a smile. “He’s got a real talent with engineering, and he managed to catch Tony’s interest yesterday.”

Danny spoke up, finally calming down. “I really don’t, I mean, I just know a little from what my parents have done. Tinkering with their inventions is interesting. And I still can’t believe that I roped  _ Tony Stark _ into being my programmer, and didn’t even realize it until we were done.”

He buried his face in his hands, lingering embarrassment coloring his cheeks. He didn’t really get why Steve and Tony were so impressed with him. Sure, he was better than his friends with building things, but he wasn’t  _ that  _ good. He didn’t even know any proper terms! 

Steve rolled his eyes and called out to Tony. “Hey, Tony! Bruce is here, you want to get up? You still have to show Danny your workshop, don’t you?” The genius was lying on the floor, practically dead to the world.

“Mrphelgrm.” Whatever the man tried to say was muffled by his hands. There was a pitiful groan, and then, “Why do I have to get up? Do you  _ know _ how much that burns?” 

Danny stood up and walked over to the genius, grinning. “If you can whine, you’re fine. First rule my friends and I made for ghost attacks. C’mon, get up. Unless... you want to be  _ dragged _ to wherever Steve and I decide to take you.”

Steve let out a sharp laugh. “You know, we  _ do _ have a pool here...” he trailed off, smug little smile on his face as Tony lunged his way to standing, and went to hide behind Bruce for good measure. 

“Danny’s a bad influence on you,” Tony cried, still hiding behind Bruce. “If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t have even  _ considered _ that. Oh no! He’s turning you evil! So  _ that’s _ your plan, you... you...  _ teenager! _ Curse you and your adorable politeness!”

The teenager’s response to this was a very,  _ very _ innocent look, with batting his eyelashes at them and all. “What do you mean?” he asked, voice suddenly dropping halfway through the sentence, completely ruining the effect.

Danny blushed fiercely, and raised a hand to his throat. “Damn it. It couldn’t wait  _ one sentence _ to do that?” he muttered. “But hey, maybe this time, it’ll actually stay...”

Tony glanced over at Steve, who shrugged. Puberty.

Bruce rolled his eyes and introduced himself to Danny. “I’m Bruce Banner. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, but you were kind of preoccupied. Where are you from? Tony mentioned you’re only staying the week.”

Danny smiled politely. “Amity Park, Minnesota. Ghost central, really. My parents are paranormal scientists who focus their studies on ghosts, so when they got out of college, they moved to a nearby town that had a history of hauntings. Now, it’s the most haunted city in the U.S. Kinda annoying, actually, but you get used to it.”

“Ghosts? Really?” the scientist asked, surprised. 

The raven-haired teen nodded. “A lot of stuff has happened over the past three years. My parents made a portal to the parallel dimension running alongside our own, we’ve been taken over several times, most of the city has been rebuilt or fortified at least once, you get the picture. It’s not the safest place to live, but life there is certainly interesting enough.”

Bruce commented, “Huh. It does sound interesting. Are you familiar with your parents’ research, then? It sounds like you know your way around the whole ‘ghost’ deal.”

Danny smiled. “Yeah. It’s easy to keep up with when there’s a special news channel made for ghost fights, too. One of our news anchors was moved to a new channel set up specifically to broadcast the fights between ghosts that people have managed to record. At first, we all thought it was a joke, but it’s been a really big hit.”

“I bet.” Bruce thought that it would certainly be fun to watch. “So, do the ghosts fight among themselves often?” 

This time, the teen frowned. “More than you’d think, but most of the fighting is the local hero chasing malevolent ghosts back to the Ghost Zone. That’s the parallel dimension I brought up earlier. Funny how everyone thought Phantom was evil at first.”

The scientist turned to stare at the teen, surprised by the bitterness in his voice. “I take it you never thought that?” he asked. “What made the citizens change their mind about him?”

The teen shrugged, face neutral. “Time, I guess. Most of the teenage population loved him from the get-go. I guess it just spread after a while, and once people realized that he had been framed or controlled on the two occurrences where he  _ actually _ did bad things...”

He let out a heavy sigh, and Bruce thought about that. It would be really nice if people didn’t view him as a danger for just existing, but that’s what the Hulk  _ was _ . A danger to anyone and everyone except himself. He could sympathize. 

“Anyway,” Danny drawled, continuing on, “it’s been almost three years since Phantom appeared, and he’s got a ninety-four percent approval rating.” Some pride entered his voice, and Bruce wondered why this Phantom character matter so much to the teen. 

“That’s good,” he began, smiling at the happy tone Danny had used. “Then, I guess一”

“What'cha talking about?” Tony interrupted, popping up right in front of the two males. Danny jumped back and ran into the edge of the couch, nearly forgetting to keep up the normal teenager facade. If it weren’t for all of the time spent hiding his physique during school and gym class, he would have slipped up  _ again _ .

“Don’t do that!” he snapped, eyes shut to hide the rush of green. “Jeez, you scared me!”

Tony snickered, and replied, “Sorry. I’ll try to avoid that from now on, but it’s time to show you my sacred place. The personal workshop of Tony Stark, complete with a coffee maker and a small pile of blankets and pillows in a corner in case I collapse from exhaustion while working.”

Calming down, Danny rolled his eyes. “Y’know, excuse me for thinking this, but isn’t collapsing from exhaustion a  _ bad _ thing?” he asked. Then he had to ignore the little voice in his head that was calling him a hypocrite. 

The genius shrugged. “When you’ve got an idea in your head and need to build it, you don’t stop. Even if it takes hundreds of trials to get it right. I think my record is... one week with only four hours of sleep, seven missed meals, and I think Pepper drugged my coffee at the end, there. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Bruce crossed his arms. “It’s a good thing she did. Much longer, and you probably would have collapsed while working on something dangerous, or started to hallucinate.”

Danny nodded. “Yeah, I一 uh, I saw a friend of mine, the programmer, work on a project for a week straight before collapsing last summer. He said he was hallucinating ghosts and dragons. I’m  _ pretty _ sure it was only the dragons, though. ...Then again, we’ve seen dragons before, so maybe he just  _ wasn’t  _ hallucinating.” Both adults ignored that last comment.

Bruce and Danny followed Tony as he led the teen down to his ‘sacred place’. Danny noticed Steve run down a hallway, and return with a sketchbook and pencil. He wondered if the super soldier drew often, or if it was just a casual hobby.

Down in the workshop, Tony stood with a gleeful expression, rubbing his hands together. There was a large pile of scrap metal to one side of him, and some long, smooth tables with power tools on the other side. Everything looked sleek and futuristic, if one ignored the occasional scorch marks from something that exploded, or a failed test.

“Alright, squirt, show me what you can do. You mentioned containment devices and weapons, right?” the genius exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Danny’s shoulders and steering him towards the tables. One of them was entirely a touchscreen computer, and when Tony activated it, holograms appeared around them.

He explained, “This is where I assemble my ideas first. JARVIS detects any obvious errors or whether the pieces don’t fit together right, or any other simple issues. It’s kind of like a 3D blueprint, you’re building a model.”

Danny nodded, getting an idea of how it worked. “Do you have a catalog of all the parts you have on-hand? Since I’m not really familiar with this software...” he asked, trailing off.

Tony nodded, and tapped a few things. A list popped up, and Danny scrolled through it, a big smile on his face. The only thing missing for an ectoblaster was the rather unique power cell and filter that renewed most of the ecto-energy.

“I can build you a non-functional ectoblaster.” Danny paused, and added, “It’s a type of weapon that works on ghosts. It can be harmless to humans, generally only covers them in goo. It’s the heat you have to watch for. Ectoplasm can be superheated without melting into a liquid or gas. It’s pretty much always a gel.”

Tony replied, “That’s awesome. You should totally build me one so I can study it and later experiment with ectoplasm-based technology. You know how unusual it is I get to experiment with a new energy source? Very unusual. This would cure my boredom for, like, 83 hours, or something.”

Danny just grinned, and selected the pieces he needed to build the blaster. Bruce and Steve, who had been chatting quietly to each other, looked up to see an eager Tony and Danny half-buried in the pile of scrap metal that was actually most of the less-expensive parts the genius had on hand.

Bruce stepped over to Tony and asked, “So, what is he planning on making?”

The genius replied cheerfully, “An ectoblaster, he said.”

Bruce nodded slowly. He could easily guess that it was an anti-ghost weapon, and wondered if Danny’s parents taught him how, or if he learned on his own time. Tony  _ had _ said that Danny was very smart, and had a talent for engineering. 

Arms filled with parts, Danny was grinning. He hadn’t really been able to enjoy building tech yet, either because he had to hide it from his parents, or because it was important to do quickly and correctly. If he hadn’t modified those weapons to suit Sam and Tucker... well, they’d have a lot more scars, that’s for sure.

“Let’s get building!” Tony shouted, fists in the air. 


	9. A Mishap and Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Panic attack in this chapter. Please be cautious if you're easily affected by reading about those.

Danny’s ectoblaster had gone over very well with Tony, even though it was lacking its power supply, and therefore non-functional. The genius had admitted that the overall design was very good, and could easily be adapted to other energy sources. It was lightweight, and didn’t have much of a recoil, the teen had explained. He knew that would change depending on the energy type and power output, but it was a nice advantage ectoplasm-based weapons had.

Bruce had gone back to his lab around an hour after they had started, claiming he had better things to do than stand around and watch two geniuses fool around with weapons and other tech. Tony chuckled at the blush Danny had gotten from the comment when the teen realized that Bruce had called  _ him _ a genius. 

Steve had hung around until he finished a sketch of the two of them working. It was a good drawing, and the super soldier almost wanted to show it to them. Almost. Even he got bored, though, and left to go run around New York again. He and Bruce both knew that Tony could stay holed up in his workshop for days, as mentioned before. Steve just hoped the man would have a little restraint due to the presence of their younger friend.

For Danny, the time the two engineers spent in Tony’s workshop was nothing short of heaven. There were no ghost attacks to interrupt, and he got in four consecutive hours of building before his stomach reminded him it was lunch time. 

Tony had been a huge help. When Danny couldn’t explain what he did to build the ectoblaster, the genius took it apart, examined it, and reassembled it exactly the same way, explaining as he put it back together. Occasionally, he’s suggest an improvement here, a little change there, and the finished product looked like it would work much better than what Danny had originally built, and only with small improvements.

When the duo left the workshop for a lunch break, they were still talking excitedly about all of the things they would like to build, or had built in the past. Tony even explained a little bit about his Iron Man suit, which led to a slightly darker topic.

“So, the power source you use for the suit is the arc reactor in your chest?” Danny asked curiously, glancing over at the glow he could see through Tony’s Black Sabbath shirt. 

The man nodded solemnly. “Yeah. It’s bittersweet, really. Without this little baby, the shards of shrapnel in my chest would finish what they started and reach my heart. It’s great that I managed to survive, but there will always be that chance that the arc reactor malfunctions and I die...” he replied, trailing off. 

Danny grimaced. “Sounds horrible. But you’re right, at least you managed to survive. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?” he commented, laughing nervously at the end.  _ “What doesn’t kill me all the way, anyway,” _ he thought.

Tony nodded. “Hey, you want to grab Bruce and go out for lunch? I haven’t been to my favorite Italian restaurant in a while,” he asked, smoothly changing the subject when Danny’s stomach growled again.

The teen chuckled. “Sure. I haven’t had Italian in a while, either.”

“Great! I’ll grab Bruce,” he said, jogging over to the elevator. “Just hang out here, and I’ll come get you when I find him. He’s probably in his lab again. It’s a good thing that he agreed to come live here, or that floor would barely ever be used.”

Danny snorted, and flopped down on the couch. It had been a good day, so far.

 

* * *

 

A few minutes later, there was a loud  _ bang _ and someone dropped through a vent in the ceiling. Danny was startled, and leapt up into a defensive stance, fist raised protectively, facing the potential threat. 

The man sprang up from the crouch he landed in and froze, wide-eyed, staring at Danny. He glanced around, and realized that the living room was otherwise empty, and muttered a curse. He held up his hands in a calming gesture, and looked around again.

“JARVIS? Is-is he supposed to be here?” he asked aloud, sounding really uncomfortable. 

Somewhere in the back of Danny’s mind, he was slowly realizing that this man wasn’t really a threat, and was probably another Avenger, but the teen’s adrenaline rush hadn’t worn off yet, and the man in front of him was carrying a weapon, probably several. That didn’t make him any less of a threat to Danny’s instincts, and so he did  _ not _ drop his guard.

The A.I. promptly replied to the man’s question. “Yes, Agent Barton. He is a friend of Mr. Stark’s, and was told to wait in the common living room until Mr. Stark returned with Dr. Banner. He is, indeed, supposed to be here,” JARVIS replied, snarking a bit with the last comment.

Barton sighed, and addressed Danny. “Okay, kid. I’m not gonna hurt you, alright? My name is Clint, what’s yours?” He slowly put down his hands, hoping that the teen would relax a bit because JARVIS listened to him.

 

* * *

 

Then, the elevator dinged, and Danny dropped into a crouch, prepared to bolt. He wasn’t fully aware of his actions at this point, instincts fully taking over. He noticed the  _ agent _ look at the elevator with relief, and mentally prepared himself to dash down a hallway, hide long enough to change into ghost form, and escape to the skies.

“Danny!” he heard Tony exclaim. “What the hell, Legolas?!”

Tony stormed up to Clint, right past the still crouching, defensive teen. Bruce hurried over to the defensive teen and crouched down next to him with slow, exaggerated movements. He gently rubbed Danny’s back, trying to calm the teen down. He watched Tony gear up to yell at the sharpshooter, and sighed. Nothing could ever be simple, could it?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Clint exclaimed, stepping back. “I didn’t do anything to the kid! I think I just startled him a little, and when I tried to calm him down, he just got more defensive! I swear, I didn’t do anything!”

Tony narrowed his eyes in a glare. “Then why is he like that? How did you startle him?”

“I don’t know! I just dropped in from the vents, like I normally do,” he explained quickly, and then froze again. Some strange person randomly appearing from the ceiling could be considered frightening. “Oh.”

“Yeah,  _ oh _ .” The genius continued to glare, and gestured to the bow on his back and the knife on his thigh. “And did you even consider the fact that you have two weapons in plain sight? I don’t know why Danny was so scared, but it  _ might _ be because of that.”

Bruce growled, “Stop shouting, neither of you are helping the situation.” He got the tense teenager to relax against the couch, and waited for his breathing to slow down. Finally, when he deemed the boy calm enough, he asked, “Are you okay, Danny?”

Slowly, he nodded, eyes clearing a bit. Danny shook his head a little to clear it, and beat away the fuzziness always left after a panic attack brought on by his instincts. He reorganized his thoughts, took deep, calming breaths, and smiled slightly at Bruce.

“Thanks. I was... yeah.” He didn’t really want to explain, but he would if they asked.

 

* * *

Tony finally stopped glaring at Clint, and wandered over to where Danny and Bruce were sitting. “You okay, squirt? You scared Bruce, I think,” he asked, hiding his own worry. Danny just grinned up at him, and shrugged.

“Nothing like a good panic attack to get the blood pumping, huh?” he joked.

The genius snorted. “Yeah, sure. Ready for lunch then?”

Bruce looked over at Clint, and saw the guilty expression on his face. “Danny, would it be alright it Clint joined us?” he asked cautiously. He watched as the teen tensed, then forcibly relaxed and gave a small shrug.

“I don’t mind,” the teen replied casually. 

The sharpshooter’s expression turned to surprise, and then back to guilt. “It’s fine, I don’t want to intrude,” he tried to decline. 

Bruce shook his head. “We were planning on introducing Danny to the whole team, anyway.” He hung back to talk to the blond man as Tony and Danny made their way to the elevator, and smiled. “I know you didn’t mean to do that. He’ll probably warm up to you like he did to me. He just doesn’t like to be startled.”

Clint nodded. “Yeah. Do you think Tony will let me get close enough to apologize to the kid? I was a massive idiot. How could I forget that weapons generally scare people? Jeez.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re around us and other SHIELD agents all the time?” Bruce chuckled. “I think Tony will calm down in a bit. Hopefully. He does seem really attached, though.”

They heard a shout of excitement, and strolled into the elevator in time to hear, “You’re gonna let me pick the car we go in? Awesome!” Danny was cheerful and happy once again.

 

* * *

 

Later, once they got to the restaurant, Tony decided to ask Danny what brought on the panic attack. They were sitting next to each other, so the genius took the opportunity that presented itself when Clint and Bruce were ordering to ask.

“So,” Tony muttered, “what brought it on?”

Danny tensed a little, and replied, “Just being startled.”

Tony shook his head. “I know that’s a lie, or you would’ve had a panic attack this morning when I startled you. You don’t have to tell me if you really don’t want to, but maybe I can help. I’ve had my fair share after what happened to me in Afghanistan.”

Letting out a sigh, the teen grimaced. “I’m not afraid of a lot of things. The constant ghost attacks in my town kinda desensitized me, but after certain events... well, I’m kinda afraid of agents. At first, I really  _ was _ just startled. But then your A.I. called him  _ Agent _ Barton, and I freaked out.” His chest felt tight again, but it was only from the discomfort of talking about the situation.

Tony nodded slowly. “So, what happened? That is, if you want to tell me. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, that’s fine, I’m just kind of curious what a relatively normal person could be afraid of agents for. I mean, you don’t have a criminal record or anything, so...”

“There’s a branch of the government dedicated to hunting ghosts. They’ve bullied and threatened my parents and me before, they don’t care about collateral damage, and I’m not just talking about destruction of property. I’ve taken a few hits from their ectoguns, before.”

Tony’s expression melted into dark anger. He may not have really been the hero type, but he did care whether or not innocent people got hurt. Maybe he’d have to hack a few systems, and threaten SHIELD into forcefully disbanding the ghost-hunting branch Danny told him about. He could understand developing an extreme fear of agents, in this case.

“Got it,” he acknowledged. Then, he said, “Thanks for telling me that. I know it must be hard to talk about.”

Danny just nodded, face passive. “Yeah. Thanks for listening.”

When their meals arrived, the four of them fell into a comfortable silence only broken by the scrape of silverware on plates.

 

* * *

 

On the way back to the car, Clint asked Danny for a moment of his time. They slowed down and built up a little distance between themselves and the other two for privacy. Danny was nervous about being alone with the agent, but he hid it well.

Clint spoke first. He coughed, and explained, “I didn’t mean to startle you, and I certainly didn’t mean to cause a panic attack. I wasn’t thinking, and forgot that the weapons I had were probably scaring you.” He looked down at his hands, and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

The teen sighed, too. “It wasn’t the weapons, really. I mean, yeah, they’re kind of threatening, but I live in a house where my parents answer the door with huge guns pointed in your face. It was...” he trailed off, throat tight. He couldn’t say it out loud, not to the person he was irrationally scared of. It was embarrassing, and he didn’t want to make Clint feel bad.

“It was... what?” the archer asked curiously. 

Danny shrugged. “Ask Tony. I can’t... I can’t say it.” He blushed a little, and ground his teeth. Ancients, he wasn’t fourteen anymore! He should be able to talk about it clearly! Why was he having so much trouble?

The archer’s eyes filled with understanding. “Hey, it’s okay,” he pressed. “There are just some things we find hard to talk about. Everyone has at least one, don’t worry about it. And really, I’m sorry for scaring you earlier.”

Danny nodded, still looking at the ground as they continued on towards the car. Clint slid in the back seat next to Bruce, leaving shotgun open for the teen, since he seemed to know Tony the best. With any luck, Tony would be willing to tell him what the problem was, and he could fix it before he scared the poor kid again.

The drive back was just as relaxed and comfortable as their meal had been, and the billionaire chatted with Danny about what they could build next all the way back to the tower.


	10. Defense and Dinner

The rest of the afternoon was spent in pleasant company, with Bruce occasionally checking in on the two mechanical engineers. Tony taught Danny how to build a fully functional blaster, complete with filled power cell. It wouldn’t be effective against ghosts, but it could easy take out a human opponent. 

“Take it, squirt. You built it, after all,” Tony commanded when Danny tried to give it back.

Danny shook his head. “I don’t need something like this. I’m just a teenager, isn’t it dangerous to give me a functional weapon that could harm people?” He almost laughed at the irony. Technically, he was always armed. It was incredibly hard to disarm a halfa.

The genius frowned. “You’re living in a city where ghost attacks are the norm, and government agents have  _ shot at you _ . Besides, if people realize your friends with most of the Avengers, you’ll probably be a target. It’s better if you learn to defend yourself now, so when you run into trouble later, you won’t be in as much danger.”

This time, Danny couldn’t hold back a laugh. At Tony’s glare, he explained, “My mom’s a ninth dan black belt in karate, I’ve been raised in a ghost hunting household,  _ I know how to build a functional gun _ , even if it isn’t a normal gun. Thanks for worrying about me, but I don’t really need self-defense lessons, much less a blaster.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Is that a challenge? I’m pretty sure the type of people who’d come after a friend of mine aren’t your average run-of-the-mill criminals. We’re talking super villains who want collateral against us, who wouldn’t bat an eye at taking hostages.”

The teen sighed, knowing that Tony wouldn’t take no for an answer. To be honest, the man had a point, but Danny knew he could take care of himself. “Alright, fine. If it makes you feel better, I’ll keep the stupid blaster. Good?”

When Tony didn’t complain, the teen picked up the weapon and fitted it on his wrist, sighing at the heavy weight of it. It was kind of similar to the wrist-rays they used on ghosts, but much more dangerous. If he acted reflexively and shot at someone, they’d get a lot more than a little bruise. He’d have to be careful with it.

“Alright, it’s almost six. I should probably head back to the hotel in the next hour or two, I don’t want to worry my parents,” he muttered, frowning. 

They headed up to the living room, and Tony asked, “Why don’t you stick around for dinner? We can order pizza for everyone and watch  _ Harry Potter _ , or  _ Mean Girls _ , or something. What kind of movies do you like? What’s even popular these days? I thought  _ Kung Fu Panda 2 _ was pretty funny, to be honest.”

It took a moment for Danny to reply. He hadn’t actually had time to just hang out and have fun with someone in such a long time. He’d usually have to be on guard for things like ghost attacks or his parents’ newest invention targeting him.

“I... guess I could,” he muttered hesitantly, the idea of relaxing a foreign one.

The doors to the elevator slid open, and Tony cheerfully steered him over to the nearest seat, plopping him down and ignoring the slightly bewildered look the teen had. Bruce and Steve were nowhere to be seen, but Clint had strung up a hammock in a corner of the room near the ceiling, and was relaxing with a... comic book.

“Hey, birdbrain, you up for pizza and movie night?” Tony called, smirking. 

Clint just gave the genius a thumbs-up, eyes not leaving the comic book he was absorbed in. Tony grinned even more, and strolled over to where Danny was still seated. He flopped down lengthwise across a loveseat across from the raven-haired teen.

“JARVIS, please call Steve and Bruce up to the living room. Tell ‘em it’s movie night. Then, call my favorite pizza place. Oh, and we should probably get two of everything; between Steve and Bruce, they can eat five or six large pizzas.” Then, he turned to Danny, and asked, “Do you have any particular requests? A large appetite, maybe, or the desire for a specific non-alcoholic beverage? I’m trying to take Pepper’s orders into consideration, here.”

Danny shrugged. “I can probably eat two or three pizzas on my own. I like Pepsi or Coke, for pop. Coke is better, but won't say no if there's only Pepsi.” His ghost half used a lot of energy in fights, and while he could produce his own energy to a point, it usually took an extra toll on his human half, requiring the teen to eat more, or eat ectoplasm-infused food.

JARVIS took that moment to reply. “Dr. Banner and Cpt. Rogers are informed, and on their way up to the common area now. Ms. Potts is also in the area, and was already planning to stop by for dinner, or so she said when I took the liberty to inform her.”

Tony chuckled, “Then we’re only missing Natasha and Thor, huh? Well, not much we can do about those two. Thor’s off-world, and Natasha is always busy with SHIELD.” He pulled out his phone, and tapped out a quick text.

Danny watched curiously as the overexcited genius prepared for a simple group movie night, and smiled softly when his face lit up at the thought of having everyone together. The teen suspected that Tony didn’t have many friends outside of Pepper and the Avengers.

“Oh, Danny,” Tony hummed, “I sent a text to your parents, to let them know you were eating dinner with us. They probably won’t mind, anyway.”

He just rolled his eyes and grimaced. His mom would probably laugh, then chew him out later for not telling her himself.  _ “Well, it’s done now. Not much I can do about it. Maybe they’ll be able to tour the city or something,” _ he thought in resignation.

A while later, Pepper appeared from the elevator, followed by Steve. Bruce had joined Danny, Tony, and Clint quickly, not having anything in the lab he needed to finish up. Steve had been working out, and didn’t really want to offend anyone’s noses. A quick shower was all that was necessary to fix that problem, though. 

The pizza arrived, steaming and delicious, and the group sequestered themselves on and around the couches. Tony even pulled out a couple beanbag chairs from some weird closet that no one knew existed. Pepper didn’t say anything, but she didn’t really need to. Her expression said it all. It was a look of pained resignation.

_ ‘De ja poo, the feeling that you’ve seen this shit before.’ _

 

* * *

 

Danny looked up when the elevator dinged. They were about three quarters of the way through their movie, and a good half of the pizza was gone, when the silver doors slid open to reveal a taller-than-average woman with short, red hair in a black catsuit. She had gun holsters attached to her thighs, throwing knife holsters wrapped around her wrists like bracelets, and she carried herself like a fighter. He instantly knew that she was trouble, and most likely an agent of some kind, like Clint. He tensed, ready for an altercation.

Steve had apparently also noticed her approach, and gave her a friendly smile. “Hey, Natasha. Done with work for a while?” he asked politely, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone had accompanied the spy.

She shrugged, face impassive. “Fury didn’t have anything he needed me to attend to right away, so I got some time off. I should be able to hang around here for a few days, if the five-year-old doesn’t mind.”

“Hey! I resent that! I’m at  _ least _ seven!” Tony cried indignantly. 

“Seven-year-old, then, though you strike me as too hyperactive for that age,” she amended, giving another shrug. “Is that a yes?”

“Sure. As long as you don’t piss off my new friend,” the genius responded. 

Natasha turned her attention to the person she had originally come there to see. The kid was muscular, though the baggy shirt and jeans hid it well from untrained eyes. He was tall, probably approaching six feet, and had short black hair spiked forwards. She wondered if it was naturally messy like that. 

Daniel Fenton, age seventeen, son of two genius inventors and ghost hunters. He looked tense and uncomfortable at the slight scrutiny he was under, not that she was very surprised. He looked like the person to be overly cautious. Those blue eyes were guarded, and filled with distrust for the newest arrival.

She approached him, relaxing her stance a little to appear more open and friendly as she walked. When she reached the teen, the assassin held out a hand and offered a cheerful smile to Danny. “Natasha Romanoff, Clint’s friend,” she stated, waiting.

Danny hesitantly took her hand, still anxious and tense. He  _ knew _ she was putting up a front for him. When she had left that elevator, she had an air of seriousness. He could easily picture her holding her own in a harsh fight. 

“Danny Fenton.” His tone wasn’t cold or disrespectful, a smooth polite baritone. Seems his voice had decided to stay lower after all. The teen could only pray for no more awkward cracking and that it wouldn’t change any more.

He watched her frown a little, and mentally sighed. This would be interesting. Clint was a naturally cheerful person, relaxed and easygoing with some snarky humor thrown in, and it was easy to get used to his presence, regardless of the whole  _ agent _ thing. He still preferred the other three men to the archer, but he was easily tolerable.

Natasha, he could tell, was  _ not _ that kind of person. Her attitude before introducing herself to him was distant and apathetic, possibly even cold to the others. She wasn’t  _ naturally _ cheerful or friendly. That was an act to make him feel more comfortable, and he had seen through it, and she knew he had. Natasha’s act had not won the woman any points with him.

“Can I join you, maybe steal some pizza?” she asked softly, leaving the decision up to the teenager.  _ This _ won points with Danny. He hated it when adults brushed him or others off because they were younger.

He nodded, deciding to keep an eye on her. “Sure. I think there’s still plenty of pizza left. It might not be hot, though,” he answered, equally as quiet.

She nodded her thanks, and threw herself down on the beanbag next to Clint, almost launching him onto the floor. Tony snorted, Steve and Danny started laughing at the offended expression the archer was wearing, and Bruce and Pepper just rolled their eyes and smiled. If the assassin meant to break up the tension between her and Danny, it worked. Really well.

The rest of the movie was finished in peace, and there were only a few slices of pizza left when everyone was full. Which was only surprising because Tony had apparently ended up ordering twenty pizzas. Steve had five, Bruce had  _ six _ , Danny had three, Clint had two, and everyone else ate one. The only person who didn’t finish a whole pizza was Pepper, and she gave most of her extra slices to Tony or Natasha. 

They all slid smoothly into a game of poker to end the evening, with Tony and Clint carefully teaching the resident teenager how to play. Natasha threw in a few tips here and there, being such a good player herself, but the she knew Danny didn’t really feel comfortable around her yet, and held off on invading his personal space. 

_ Unlike a certain billionaire _ , who was never known for respecting  _ anyone’s _ personal space. Aside from Natasha, of course. She would probably punch him in the face and break his nose if he tried. Thankfully, Danny had gotten used to the over-exuberant genius and his ways by the end of the second day. The physical expressiveness wasn’t much different from Jack, and the way Danny’s father loved to hug people, slap them on the backs, et cetera. 

It was rapidly approaching ten o’clock, and Danny knew he needed to head back to the hotel before his parents started to worry. While most of the group was disappointed that he had to leave, they were mollified with promises to return the next day. 

Danny didn’t know whether to find it strange that everyone liked him so much, or to enjoy the new friendships that had formed within hours of meeting the other Avengers. His only human friends up to that point had been Sam, Tucker, and Valerie. Everyone at school was more concerned with popularity or just didn’t want to hang out with ‘that loser, Fenton’. 

In the end, as Bruce accompanied him back, wanting to speak with his parents about their research, he decided to be grateful that he had managed to catch Tony’s attention in the first place, and that the genius enjoyed his company enough to call him his friend.

It had been a really good day, overall.


	11. Ghosts, Ghost Portals

When Danny got back to the hotel room, he had no desire to stick around and listen to his parents go on and on about ghosts and ghost technology  _ again _ . That was something his life could do with less of. After calling a quick goodbye to Bruce, the halfa teen retreated to his room and flopped down on the bed with a sigh.

Spending all day socializing, even if it was enjoyable, was exhausting. It was vastly different from back home, where he’d have barely any time at all to enjoy the company of his friends between ghost fights and avoiding detection. 

Avoiding detection was something Danny had always had issues with. The teen wasn’t a very good liar, originally, and he still wasn’t all that good. He had his moments, and he could lie away small things his parents or teachers noticed, like a minor scrape or a new band-aid. He became very good at hiding pain, limps, flinches and all. The teen could easily take a hit from Dash Baxter and pretend it hurt more than it did, or less, if Dash managed to punch an injury. His body language was better at hiding things than his words, though.

Really, it was mainly that Danny didn’t have creative enough excuses that were also believable. His most common excuse at school was still the old ‘may I go to the bathroom’. Half the student body thought he had bladder problems. The other half just knew he was bad at lying. It was pretty obvious.

So, yes, avoiding detection was something Danny Fenton sucked at. Which was why the appearance of two government agents when he had already slipped up a couple of times was so alarming, besides the fact that he had a phobia of agents.

He didn’t know who they were, he didn’t know who they worked for, and he didn’t know if they wanted anything specific or were just hanging around the tower because they were Avengers like Tony and Bruce and Steve. He  _ needed _ to know. His paranoia wouldn’t let him rest until he knew he was safe.

There was one person Danny could count on for help in a situation like this. One of his two best friends, the ever-amazing hacker, Tucker Foley, would be able to find out more about the two agents. With any luck, the teen wouldn’t be interrupting anything important.

“Thank the Ancients Tucker can hack so well,” he grumbled, ruffling his hair. “I’m so lucky to have such good friends... now where did I put my phone?”

 

* * *

 

Bruce nodded to Danny as the teen said his farewells for the evening and disappeared to another room. He wasn’t sure what to expect from the teen’s parents, but he allowed himself to stay open-minded and inquisitive as they introduced themselves and their topic of study.

Danny had said they were paranormal scientists focusing on ghosts and ectoplasm-based technology. He had failed to mention how enthusiastic his parents were about the subject. The nuclear physicist was entirely unprepared for the other man’s exuberant shouts about how ghosts were interesting creatures made of ectoplasm and post-human consciousness. 

Danny’s mother put her hand on her husband’s arm to calm him down and introduced herself cheerfully. “I’m Madeline Fenton, and this is my husband, Jack, though you can call me Maddie, if you’d like. We’re Danny’s parents. He said you wanted to discuss our research?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, giving them a slight smile, “Danny mentioned a bit about the parallel dimension, and a bit about the ghost attacks in your town. I thought it was very interesting, and as a fellow scientist, I was curious to learn more.”

She smiled kindly and replied, “That’s wonderful! It isn’t common that someone believes us or our son right off the bat, you know. Come on in, and have a seat. Do you want any tea, coffee, water?”

Bruce shook his head. “No, thank you.”

They all took a seat in the small living area. Maddie and Jack exchanged a brief look, a silent conversation that was short and to the point, and Maddie nodded. Jack grinned, and pulled out what looked like a futuristic plasma gun. Bruce had a feeling his guess wasn’t far off.

“So, you wanted to know more about ghosts and the Ghost Zone, correct?”

He nodded, and she continued on. “Ghosts are commonly thought to be human souls, after the body has died, and that the souls linger for a purpose, maybe some unfinished business. This is...  _ partially  _ true. We’re still unsure how to confirm whether a ghost created from a deceased human is that human’s soul or not. Research would point towards yes, but there’s no factual basis, seeing as many ghosts cannot remember their human lives, if they ever had one. Jack?”

“Of course, Maddie!” her husband replied. He took up where she let off, and explained, “Over the past three years, we’ve learned a lot about ghosts! Apparently, not  _ all _ ghosts are malevolent and evil. According to our best source, most of the population of the Ghost Zone just want to be left alone. Our source, a ghost named Phantom, also explained that ghosts can have children together just like humans, and are able to build families. Interesting, huh?”

Bruce smiled and nodded. It really  _ was _ interesting. There was effectively another sentient race on Earth, or at least a parallel dimension connected to Earth. He wondered if he could speak to this Phantom ghost.

Maddie smiled at the other man’s interest. “Obsessions are what keeps a ghost around. I believe that, if they really are souls of the dead, they could pass on if they satisfied their obsession, but they could also stick around if they chose to. As Jack said, some of them form families and have children. I’d definitely understand not wanting to leave them behind.”

“So, the parallel dimension is called the Ghost Zone? How did you two learn about it?” Bruce asked, fully curious by now. He wanted to know what it was like, if it was like another world or a duplicate of Earth, or if Thor’s stories of Asgard sounded similar.

Jack and Maddie both nodded. “We came up with a theory for it in college, with our friend, Vlad Masters. Other people had ideas, but nothing to go off of. Think about it this way; the Bermuda Triangle, areas where it’s common for things and people to disappear, things from the future arriving in the past, or vice versa? If there was a parallel dimension running alongside ours, and the barrier was weak in certain places, what would happen? We researched these phenomena, since it seemed to occur a lot in places of high spiritual and supernatural activity, and we found a journal of someone’s travels to a ‘strange place’ where the sky was green and the people were different, and could fly. Of course, the Bermuda Triangle turned out to simply be high levels of methane gas messing with fine-tuned instruments and people's senses, but there are other phenomena without a reasonable explanation to their name.”

Jack beamed at the other man, catching the expression of understanding that appeared in his eyes. “Exactly! The person who wrote that journal fell through what’s called a ‘natural portal’, and ended up in the Ghost Zone! From there, it was fairly easy to figure out a way to break through to the alternate dimension. The hardest part was building an artificial portal.”

“Yes,” Maddie agreed. “The theory was actually very simple. We had managed to get a supply of ectoplasm, and we built a proto-portal, a prototype for the artificial portal we wanted to make. There was a moment where it worked, at first. It was too bad the thing blew up in Vlad’s face. That poor man.”

“Yeah, poor Vladdie. Well, twenty or so years later, we completed a full-sized artificial portal to the Ghost Zone! We tried turning it on, but it didn’t work. We thought there must’ve been something wrong in our calculations, but Danny tried to get it to work, bless his little heart. He’s definitely a Fenton, that boy!” Jack boomed proudly.

Bruce chuckled at that. He was suspicious, though. How would a fourteen-year-old get his parents’ invention to suddenly work? What had happened there? Was it something simple that the parents had missed because they spent too much time on the project? It was entirely possible. Sometimes people could miss the most obvious mistakes.

“So, what happened? How did your son get it to work?” he asked. 

Maddie and Jack shared an uncomfortable look. She frowned, and replied, “He never told us how, actually. We’ve asked, of course, but he always distracts us or gives a half-answer and leaves the room before we can ask more. I think it might be because of the accident that he had with the portal... but I wouldn’t know for sure.”

“Accident?” Bruce asked, alarmed. Maybe his suspicions weren’t unfounded.

Jack nodded, also frowning. “Yeah. Danny’s friends said he’d got a bit of a shock when he turned it on. They  _ did _ say it wasn’t anything to worry about, and Dann-o looked fine, but...” he trailed off, and his frown deepened. 

“But he was very clumsy for the next month or so, and after that, his grades started dropping, and he started missing curfew more often than not. It  _ was _ the beginning of freshman year for him, though, so we chalked it up to academic stress. He’s doing a bit better now,” Maddie added, continuing what her husband had started explaining.

“That’s odd. Well, I’m glad that Danny didn’t get hurt worse, though those sound like they could be symptoms of a concussion, or some other kind of damage to the brain. But, as you said, he seems perfectly fine. Thank you for telling me about all this. It’s really fascinating.” Bruce shook their hands, and smiled. “I might be back tomorrow to talk some more. I’m sure you have plenty of interesting ghost stories.”

“Of course, Dr. Banner. You’re welcome to come have a chat when Danny comes back from his visit with you and his other new friends. Just... make sure he stays safe. I’m not overly concerned about him, he can certainly handle himself, but...” Maddie replied, trailing off.

“But a mother worries. Of course, Mrs. Fenton. I’ll make sure he gets back safe and sound tomorrow,” Bruce agreed. With that, he and the other two adults said goodbye and he left for Stark Tower. It had been a very... intriguing conversation.

 

* * *

 

“So, you think you can do it?” Danny asked quietly, holding the phone up to his ear.

_ “Of course, man. No problem,” _ Tucker replied smoothly.  _ “It’ll be fun. I always like a challenge, when it comes to computers. I might even try to hack Stark’s systems, just for the hell of it. What were the agents’ names again?” _

Danny sighed in relief. “Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. Thank you so much, Tucker. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he stated sincerely. 

_ “No problem, man,” _ Tucker insisted.  _ “I know how paranoid you can get sometimes. It sucks, but we’re here for you, Danny. This is the easiest way to take some of that paranoia away, so I’m happy to do it. Besides, I was getting bored.” _

“Still, you could get into a lot of trouble for doing this if you’re caught. I know how much you’re risking for me. You and Sam are the greatest friends  _ ever _ .”

_ “Enough! I know I’m awesome.  _ This _ is why we work so well together.” _

There was a relaxed laugh from the other end of the line, and Danny grinned.

_ “Dude, you would be lost without me. Admit it, without me and Sam, you’d probably be horrible at fighting ghosts,” _ the techno geek drawled smugly.

“Yeah. Those training regiments you made for me did wonders on my aim and physical fitness. I still can’t believe Sam hired a martial arts teacher just so she could teach us what she learned, those skills really came in handy.” Danny chuckled.

_ “Hell yeah! Aikido is great! I never knew that you could learn how to fall. If only you could use it on Dash instead of letting him beat you up.” _

Danny grimaced. “It’s easier to just take it, and I don’t want to do anything that would give me away. Beating up Dash, even if it was just redirecting his attacks with aikido, would put too much suspicion on me.”

Tucker sighed.  _ “I know, man. It just sucks that you have to deal with that.” _

“Yeah. Thanks, Tuck. Talk to you later?” Danny asked.

_ “Yep. I’ll give Sam an update tomorrow. I should have the info you need by tomorrow evening, at the latest. Most government systems are crap, after all. Talk to you later, Danny.” _ And with that, he ended the call.

Danny sat on his bed in the darkness, looking out his window at the night sky, ignorant of the faint green glow his eyes gave off. His time in New York had been packed to the brim with interesting and exciting things. New friends and experiences were abundant. It was the end of the second day, with five left.

In that moment, the halfa wondered how he would get by without revealing his secret to a bunch of superheroes, most of which were geniuses or good at reading people. Clockwork would intervene if it was going to end badly, though. He always did give Danny warnings to steer him in the right direction whenever a situation could turn dire.

All the ghostly teenager had to do was trust Clockwork, his instincts, and be careful.


	12. Not Less Than Human

Danny wasn’t even aware Tony had a motorcycle until he received a text telling him to head down so he could be picked up, and made it out to the parking lot. The halfa could just  _ tell _ that it would be something new every morning, and just prayed that Tony would never get the idea of showing up in his Iron Man suit and  _ carrying _ the teen back to the tower. It would be too embarrassing for Danny to accept. He’d rather walk.

“Hey, squirt! I brought you a leather jacket and a helmet. Y’know, for protection. I don’t think your parents would appreciate it if I just drove you to the tower without any safety gear.” Tony held out a black helmet with a tinted, full-face visor and a black leather jacket that was obviously new, and obviously his size. Of course. 

Danny knew better than to protest, and just settled for rolling his eyes. “Thanks. I take it the tinted visor is for privacy?” he asked.

The billionaire nodded, and shrugged. “People will recognize me, and probably want to know who I’m riding with, if they haven’t already figured it out from when we ate at that Italian restaurant yesterday,” he admitted. “We’re meeting Steve, Clint, and Bruce for breakfast. Well, it’s brunch now. I slept in a bit.”

The teen chuckled and pulled the jacket and helmet on. “Alright. Let’s head out, then.”

Engine revving, the motorcycle took off onto the streets of New York City, Tony laughing happily as they went.

 

* * *

 

The duo pulled up at a classy French restaurant called ‘Balthazar’. Tony turned off the bike and allowed Danny to hop off and remove his helmet. Both of them took a moment to fluff up and fix their hair, Danny’s from the helmet, and Tony’s from being windblown.

Steve was already relaxing against the wall outside, and nodded in greeting. “Clint and Bruce haven’t shown up just yet. Do you want to go in and get a table, or wait for them?” he asked as they approached.

Tony glanced over to Danny, who shrugged, and answered, “We’ll get a table. It isn’t usually that busy in the mornings, but I’d rather get seated now instead of being made to wait for half an hour later. I’ll just text Bruce that we’re already inside.”

The blond man nodded, and added, “They should be along shortly.” He glanced at Danny, and smiled. “How’s it going? Not tired of us yet?” 

Danny laughed, grinning. “Nope. It should take a couple more days,” he joked. “You guys are entertaining. Honestly, I didn’t even know Tony  _ had _ a motorcycle. I thought you had one, and I could’ve expected Natasha or Clint to have one, too, but for some reason I didn’t think Pepper would let Mr. Impulsive have one.”

The super soldier let out a surprised laugh. “Sadly, Pepper doesn’t have the time to monitor all of Tony’s purchases. I think that if she did, he’d be really bored... and a bored Tony is an even  _ more _ impulsive Tony,” he commented. They followed ‘Mr. Impulsive’ inside the restaurant.

“Probably,” Danny conceded. “That also explains the secret compartment in the wall last night. The one he used to store those beanbags?”

“Yeah. And him buying you an expensive, new suit?” Steve added, poking Danny in the shoulder. They both laughed at the memory of  _ that _ experience. Tony definitely did what he wanted, and very few people could stop him.

The raven-haired teen threw in, “A movie night complete with twenty large pizzas?”

Tony walked back over to them, and they both adopted innocent expressions. Danny couldn’t keep it up, though, and the corners of his lips twitched up before he burst out laughing. Steve quickly followed, and it left the billionaire muttering about weird friends.

Once they were all seated and waiting for the other two, the three spent their time chatting about vehicles and what they preferred to ride in (or drive). 

 

* * *

 

Brunch went by very quickly. Once Bruce and Clint showed up, they had all ordered, eaten, and chatted. Tony and Steve were arguing lightly over things to do that day, with an occasional comment thrown in from the rest of the group. 

It was actually mostly Tony arguing with Steve over whether or not he’d get to spirit Danny away to his workshop again to teach the teen more about engineering and inventing. The teen himself didn’t mind, but Steve and Bruce both wanted to spend some more time with their new friend while they could, and Bruce was leaving the next day. 

The argument ended with Clint bursting into laughter after a particularly whiny complaint from Tony, and it led into the whole table giggling. The bill was paid, and they all headed back to the tower.

Once they were all back in the tower, Bruce asked for a word with Danny. The scientist had a very strong suspicion that the teen wasn’t completely normal, due to the accident with the portal, and he just wanted to make sure he was okay, and maybe give him a safe person to talk to, if the teen needed it.

“Hey, Danny? Can I talk to you for a minute?” Bruce asked quietly.

The blue-eyed teen glanced over at his friend, and gave him a small smile. “Sure.” 

The two of them strolled off to a more private area, so Tony or the others wouldn’t get nosy and eavesdrop. Bruce wouldn’t put it past them to listen in, and this just wasn’t any of their business. This wasn’t even  _ Bruce’s _ business, really, but the scientist could relate.

When he closed the door, Danny asked, “So, what’s up?”

Bruce grimaced, and held a finger up. “JARVIS, please cease all surveillance in this room until both of us leave. None of this conversation is to be recorded, due to privacy.”

“Of course, Dr. Banner,” the A.I. replied cordially.

The scientist waited a moment, and then answered Danny. “You know I spoke with your parents last night, because I was interested in their research, right?” When the teen nodded, he continued. “Well, they brought up the two artificial portals they had made, and then commented on the fact that you managed to turn their portal on.”

He watched Danny’s reaction. There was a flash of panic, some fear, determination, and then his mask, that Bruce hadn’t even been aware of before, slipped back into place. The teen was certainly hiding  _ something _ , but he didn’t know what.

Danny didn’t say anything, just nodding for confirmation, so Bruce went on. “They also mentioned how clumsy you were after the accident, and how your school records changed. In fact, Tony mentioned that you hadn’t been to a hospital for three years, when he was first telling me about you.”

There was a sharp gasp, and the scientist watched Danny stumble back a few steps. He held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, eyes full of understanding. Danny now reminded him of the panic attack the teen had experienced yesterday, only slightly less defensive.

“Relax, Danny,” he pressed softly, “I’m not going to do anything. I don’t know what happened to you, but I can sympathize with some of what you must be going through. You know what I am, don’t you? How I could-could go on a rampage and kill innocent people without a second thought? I’m less scared of myself than I was, before meeting the other Avengers, but... there’s still a part of me that fears someone is going to try and lock me away, or that I’ll snap and hurt people. That much gamma radiation  _ should _ have killed me, but it didn’t.”

The raven-haired teen listened to what Bruce had to say. He let the underlying message wash over him, realizing that this person could probably be trusted to not do anything to him. He could  _ relate _ , in a way. He had heard about the Hulk. Who hadn’t, at this point? Their situations were  _ very  _ similar. Bruce should have died, and Danny made it halfway there.

He could take a risk. There was a chance to have another person in on his secret, and it would be someone who could understand him. He wanted another friend to talk to. 

It was too risky to tell him the full truth, though. “Yeah. Something happened to me. I was... inside the portal when it turned on. I can do small things now, but I’m terrified of anyone finding out about it. I just... my friends and my sister are the only people who know. It’s so hard to hide it sometimes, or come up with excuses,” Danny explained, omitting a lot.

Bruce nodded. “Something happened, it changed you, and now you’re scared of being discovered because you’re different enough to warrant research?”

Danny nodded, swallowing thickly. They were both dancing around the real fear. Research would be nothing. If they just observed him, and how he function as a whole being, that wouldn’t be so bad. No, he was scared of something much worse. Experimentation. Dissection.  _ Vivisection _ . Because he wasn’t alive, it was okay. He wasn’t alive. Not really.

“I... research would be the least of my problems,” he admitted, grimacing.

Bruce frowned. “If you ever feel comfortable telling me what happened, I can help. I won’t pressure you into telling me, though. I know it’s your choice.” He gripped Danny’s shoulder tightly. “Just know that I’m here if you need me. Thank you for admitting that much. It’s more than I expected, honestly.”

The teen gave him a pained smile in return. He’d really like to trust this man, with his soft words and understanding eyes. Bruce reminded him of Clockwork. More straightforward than the old stopwatch, true, and probably more caring about people in general, but they had that calming effect on him. Danny even considered asking Sam and Tucker if they thought it was alright to tell the scientist the rest of the story.

So, when Bruce held open the door, Danny followed him out with a more honest expression of relaxed happiness than when he entered. He had someone new to rely on a bit, and day three was off to a good start. Now, hopefully, it would stay that way.   



	13. Another Little Surprise

The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday passed by fairly easily. Tony had taught him a bit more about designing blueprints and using them to assemble spare parts into inventions, and had even let Danny craft some ectoplasm-based weapons for the genius. Steve had offered to go running with the teen, and the blond man had taken him on short tours around the more reputable parts of New York City during their runs. It was good for keeping in shape while he couldn’t actively train.

Natasha had disappeared sometime on Wednesday, around midday, and Danny had assumed she was going to report to her boss. What Tucker had unearthed on the two agents his friend had a passing acquaintance with was nothing short of amazing. Both worked for an organization called SHIELD, and both had been recruited from a less-than-moral line of work before being offered immunity and a job by the shadow government organization.

His trust had gone up a little for Clint. They had spent a bit of time together, and made a game of target practice once the archer learned that Danny had handled guns before, even if they were fairly  _ unique _ guns. Danny never won, of course, but the sharpshooter had praised his ability and was surprised at the accuracy of his shots.

The teen’s trust in Natasha had stayed at the level it started at, though. Non-existent and slightly suspicious. There was nothing in the information that Tucker had dug up to indicate she was aware of his alternate identity, or paying any special attention to him. All that was marked in her file was that she had been given a few days’ leave. Still, Danny had felt her eyes on him on more than one occasion, and he was loathe to let his guard down around the spy-slash-assassin.

Something Danny had found amusing was how excited and cheerful Tucker had been after breaking into SHIELD’s files. It had actually proven to be enough of a challenge to need to work at it for awhile. The techno geek had even skipped school to play around with their systems and work out the most discreet way to get the information Danny needed.

One thing had led to another, and Thursday morning, Tucker had called the halfa to tell him he had broken into Tony’s systems for fun overnight. He also mentioned that he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have succeeded if the older genius had been actively fighting off his hacking, and that he was also pretty sure JARVIS had gotten a general location on him.

So, when Tony casually asked about it during the drive to the tower, Danny shrugged and admitted that a bored friend of his wanted to test out the strength of his systems. It was close enough to the truth. Tucker  _ hadn’t _ been trying to get information when he broke into the Avenger’s systems.

“You mean to tell me that your friend is the one who tried to break into my systems? For  _ fun? _ ” Tony asked, wide-eyed. 

Danny winced. He honestly hadn’t expected a bad reaction from the man. He’d thought the genius was the type to laugh it off if nothing happened. “Uh... y-yeah. Sorry,” he mumbled. His shoulders were hunched and he gazed at the ground sheepishly.

“Don’t be!” the genius exclaimed, slapping him on the back. “Your friend’s pretty good! I’d like to test him a little, if I get the opportunity. Seriously, are all of you Amity Park kids geniuses in one area or another?”

The teen smiled hesitantly. “No, not really. So... what’ve you got planned for today?”

Tony shrugged, then glanced over to the others. He hadn’t really planned anything, and he didn’t really want to leave the tower right then. That didn’t mean there was a lack of anything to do, but they had already gamed a lot, and Steve had complained about the genius constantly holing up in the workshop with the teen, so... there went two options.

A few moments of consideration passed before JARVIS, in his infinite wisdom, offered a solution. “Sir, might I suggest showing Mr. Fenton the pool or your theater?” he commented. 

Tony’s eyes brightened up, and he missed Danny’s panicked look. “Great idea, JARVIS! I think that’d be perfect. We can send someone to go get Danny’s swimsuit from the hotel, and make a day out of it.”

The teen was just relieved that Tony didn’t decide to go out and buy him a new swimsuit. The one he had was a set of swim trunks and a long sleeve, close-fitting nylon shirt made by Grandma Ida. She had once overheard Danny panicking about a field trip to the local pool, in sophomore year, because of his scars. The feisty old lady had presented him with the white-and-blue swim shirt a couple days later. He had never been more grateful to Sam’s grandmother.

As Danny looked around at the others, he noticed that Steve and Clint both seemed fairly content and even slightly excited with the plan for that day. With a heavy sigh, the teen resigned himself to it. Hey, maybe he’d actually have fun.

 

* * *

 

An hour later found him in a miniature locker room, changing in a bathroom stall. Danny was sure the others would give him weird looks for it, but Tony and Steve hopefully still thought he was shy about his body, due to the Armani suit incident. He  _ really _ didn’t want to show them all the scars he had acquired. 

When the the teen opened the door leading to the pool, he saw the three men already involved in a game of catch. It was a bit more... brutal... than he had expected, though. Steve and Clint weren’t holding back, and Tony was stuck being the pickle in the middle. The game had an odd twist on it, where both of the blonds were deliberately spearing the poor rubber ball at the other. Occasionally, it’d catch Tony or Clint in the face, leaving red marks.

The trio was distracted from their game by Danny’s laughter. Tony was left grumbling while Steve and Clint swam over to the edge of the pool. The billionaire was at a pretty big disadvantage, up against two highly trained fighters.

“Hey, Danny!” Steve greeted, shaking water out of his hair. “Want to join in?”

Clint smirked at him. “Maybe if you join Tony, he’ll actually have a chance.”

The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes. “Are you two tormenting him again? Steve, I thought you didn’t like picking on people weaker than you?” he drawled, trying to hide his smile. He needed to be the voice of reason. Usually it was Steve, but... he had apparently decided against that, this time around.

Steve shrugged sheepishly. “Normally. Tony challenged us, though, so it’s his fault.”

At hearing this, Danny shot a bewildered look at the supposed genius. “Did you seriously challenge  _ Steve and Clint _ when you don’t have access to your suit? You  _ had _ to know you would lose!” Then he turned to the two blonds. “I’m sorry, I was clearly misinformed. Please, move on with your beatdown. That idiot needs some sense knocked into him.”

While Steve only chuckled a bit, Clint cackled and jumped back into the water. 

“Well, come on in. I’m sure Tony’s gonna need some help soon, if Clint’s reaction was anything to go by,” the super soldier sighed, waving Danny towards the water.

They both jumped in, and a very intense water fight broke out. There was much splashing and laughter, and quite a bit of the pool water didn’t actually stay  _ in _ the pool. Danny began to relax and just enjoy himself.

 

* * *

 

A couple hours later found all four males relaxing on lounge chairs by the one-way tinted windows and enjoying a brief respite. They had played catch, held breath-holding competitions with each other (Danny and Steve were tied), and even tried to play underwater tag. 

Danny had an unfair advantage, unknown to the others, in maneuvering during flight. He had trained his flexibility with Sam and Tucker, because sometimes that was the only thing saving him from some very serious injuries. That, combined with his flight experience led to the others trying and failing to tag him. Somehow, he always managed to contort his body to escape their grasp.

As they were getting ready to go back into the water for another hour before lunch, Clint noticed the scars on his calves. Danny was honestly surprised it had taken this long for one of them to notice, or bring it up, but he supposed they had been having too much fun to take notice earlier. The teen sighed as he saw the archer’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Um, Danny?” Clint asked hesitantly.

“Yeah?” He was just glad that his legs were less heavily scarred than his upper arms or torso.

The archer swallowed thickly. “How did you get those scars on your legs? That is, if you don’t mind me asking,” he continued, trying to provide an out for the teen. He had some scars like those. Those weren’t something that happened from falling out of a tree.

Now that he had brought it up, the other two Avengers turned to stare at them in shock. Steve looked pained, and Tony’s face was unreadable. Danny thought he caught a flash of anger in the genius’s eyes, but he couldn’t be sure.

At this point, he wondered if it’d just be easier to come out and tell them everything. From what Tucker saw, SHIELD wasn’t the type of agency that’d lock him away once they discovered what he was... but he couldn’t. Not yet. 

So, he went with the half-truth he’d already told to Tony. “It was the G.I.W. agents I mentioned before.” It wasn’t really a lie, anyway. A good number of his scars  _ had _ come from them, once their aim started to improve. He just didn’t mention the circumstances.

Tony’s face darkened with anger. “So,  _ a few hits _ , huh?” he growled. “You only took  _ a few hits  _ from their ectoblasters? That are supposed to do  _ minimal _ damage to humans? I don’t suppose they apologized for that, did they? You made them sound like incompetent fools who couldn’t aim. I’m thinking they’re more... cold-hearted, lowlife bastards.”

Danny winced, and took a step back from the livid genius. “Uh, I-”

“ _ Don’t _ defend them!” Tony snapped. “If they can do this to-to a  _ teenager _ , they deserve to be in prison! This shouldn’t happen! Ever! They’re supposed to be government officials! They’re supposed to be  _ helping _ people, right?! But no, they’re obviously corrupt to the core.”

Steve also glared, but not at Danny. He just gritted his teeth and glared out the windows. Tony was right, if those people could give a kid bad enough injuries to scar like that, they should have been put in prison the first time it happened.

Clint was wide-eyed in shock and understanding. He knew Danny had to be lying about some of it, because not all those scars visible could have come from the ectoguns Danny could build, but he didn’t feel like calling the teen on it. He understood why the raven-haired teen was so afraid when they first met, and he had talked to JARVIS.

“You’re afraid of agents,” he muttered. “Danny, I swear, I’m not like those guys!”

The teen shot him a pained smile. “I know. Sorry.”

The super soldier took a step towards him. “Are those the worst of them?” he asked quietly.

Danny’s eyes filled with panic and fear. “Y-yeah, totally. I’ve only got a couple on my arms.”

Tony called his bluff, though. “Sure. Just like you only took a  _ few hits _ . Danny, you haven’t been to a hospital in  _ three years _ . You need to get your old injuries checked out. They could be seriously bad for your health, you might have damage you didn’t know about.”

The teen froze. He felt his heart stop, and his body grow cold as his instincts tried to take over and help him escape. “ _ Nonononono, _ ” he whispered, taking harsh, shuddery breaths. When Tony took another step towards him, he shot off for the locker room at speeds nearly too fast for a human, only barely managing to limit himself.

As soon as he was in the locker room, he shot off towards the elevator and rode it up a few floors. Hopping off, he phased his way through the walls until he wasn’t sure where he was anymore. He had found a place to hide, and he curled up in a ball.

The room he had stopped in was more like a closet. It was barely big enough to fit him at his full height, and a foot wider than his body. Danny pressed himself into the corner and focused on slowing his breathing and calming down. 

He was still in his damp swimsuit, not that the cold mattered to him, but he didn’t have his phone with him. He couldn’t call Sam and Tucker for reassurance, or Jazz to talk him through it. Bruce wasn’t there to calm him down this time around, either. He was well and truly alone during a panic attack for the first time.

After a little while, and a lot of time spent thinking about his friends and family, he managed to mostly calm down. The darkness of the closet, lit only by the green glow of his eyes, was soothing. The quiet wrapped around him in comfort. He felt safer, now.

Danny spent another fifteen minutes in the silence and darkness, getting his bearing and trying to figure out a good excuse. Oh, how he wished Bruce didn’t have to leave for work. He could have used that calm, level-headed scientist right about then. 

He stood up, careful of where the walls were, and tried to find a door handle. When he didn’t, he let out a heavy sigh. There was no way out  _ without _ phasing through the wall, and he no longer knew where the three men were. It wasn’t safe. He’d have to call for help, as embarrassing as that was.

_ “This day is turning out nicely,”  _  he thought sarcastically.

 

* * *

 

When Danny disappeared into the locker room, Tony wanted to rush after the frightened teen. He had taken a few strides towards the exit before the captain managed to pull him back. Steve and Clint both wanted to give the poor kid space, and they all knew that Danny had just needed to get away from what he perceived as a threat.

“Tony, you need to stop and think,” Steve pressed, a hand wrapped firmly around the genius’s arm. “Danny ran away when you mentioned him needing to go to a hospital. He felt threatened by you. Chasing after him isn’t going to help.”

The genius let out a cry of frustration. “Then what will?!” He threw up his arms and started to pace. “You said he felt threatened by me. Us, probably. Does he need to be alone, then? Will that fix it?”

Clint sighed. “Last time, Bruce was able to calm him down, remember? I backed off, and we stopped arguing, and Bruce brought him out of it,” he commented, trying to help. “Since he isn’t here, maybe being alone will help Danny feel safe again?”

Steve nodded slowly. “It sounds probable. Let’s just get changed and wait in the living room. If he doesn’t show up in half an hour, we can go look for him. I don’t think it’d be a good idea to have JARVIS locate him.”

“Wha- oh. Hm...” Tony grimaced. “Probably not, it might startle the kid. Gah... fine, we can do that. But  _ only _ half an hour.”

With that, the trio left the pool to get changed and await their youngest friend’s appearance. 

 

* * *

 

“It’s been half an hour. Can we go look for him now?” 

Clint and Steve both sighed heavily. An agitated Tony was not one they wanted to be around ever again. Even anger directed at them was preferable to this anxious mess of a chatterbox. He  _ would not stop talking _ , and they both had the beginnings of a migraine. 

“ _ Yes _ , Tony, we can go look for him. Why don’t we split up to cover different floors? We can work our way up from the pool floor, I don’t think he would’ve gone far before finding a place to hide. He was in too much of a panic to wait,” Steve explained, watching as the genius jumped up and ran to the elevator.

“Great, fine, let’s  _ go _ ,” Tony replied, tapping his foot. 

The three of them had searched the three floors above the pool area, and came up with nothing. None of them had even seen any evidence of a damp swimsuit or footprints in any carpet, so they all reconvened on the fourth floor up from the pool.

“So, do we want to keep searching individually?” Clint asked quietly.

Tony shrugged and walked off, leaving the others to decide if they wanted to follow or not. Steve did, and Clint eventually just hopped in the elevator and moved up a floor. He thought that the super soldier probably just planned to calm Tony down a bit.

Steve had been following the genius for a couple minutes, looking around for hiding spots with a teenager in them, when he heard it. There was a quiet  _ “hello?” _ coming from further down the main hall, and he tapped Tony on the shoulder.

“I hear someone. It sounds like Danny,” he muttered quietly.

The duo carefully crept down the long hallway, listening to the muffled calls for attention. They reached the spot where it was coming from, and there was nothing but wall. Steve turned to head back, but he caught Tony’s surprised expression.

“Danny? Are you in there?” the genius called.

A muffled, but strong reply came, “Yes! Please let me out!”

Still bewildered, Tony tapped a panel that blended in with the rest of the wall and punched in a long password. The section of wall slid open, and out tumbled the very teen they were looking for for the past twenty minutes.

Steve and Tony stared down at the boy, open-mouthed. “Wha-how-why-”

Danny looked up at the two of them, upside down and grinning sheepishly. “Um... hi?”

Tony just blinked, and exclaimed, “How the hell did you even-?! That closet was password protected! How did you even  _ get in there?! _ That shouldn’t be possible, you said you weren’t a hacker!”

“...” Steve was still staring, open-mouthed at Danny. He tried to say something, but the words just didn’t come out. Danny could almost  _ see  _ the question marks above his head. The poor man just didn’t really understand. 

“... I got lost?” Danny finally commented, cutting off the continuing rant Tony had been going on. He got two equally confused and stern looks turned in his direction. So much for his brilliantly planned excuses.

This was going to be a long day. It wasn’t even noon yet.


	14. Secrets Kept

Back up in the living room, after getting changed into normal clothes, Danny was being pinned with three stares. No matter how much Tony had pestered him, he refused to explain how he had gotten into the secret password-protected closet. All three men had avoided bringing up the earlier subject of Danny’s scars and the lack of hospital trips, but it was hanging heavily over their heads, anyway.

“Look,” Danny said, finally, “I’m not going to tell you anything else. This is my secret to keep, and no matter how close we’ve gotten over the past few days, it doesn’t affect you, so I’m within my rights to not tell you.”

Surprisingly enough, Steve was the first one to speak after that. “Your scars are honestly from those agents you mentioned before? You weren’t lying to us to hide something?” he asked, face full of sincere and open concern.

Danny shrugged. “Some of my scars are from other things, but I didn’t lie about getting those from G.I.W. agents. They’re pretty much the entire reason I have a phobia of government agents,” he admitted.

Tony eagerly, and maliciously, asked, “Can I get them disbanded? Or arrested? Or financially ruined?”

The teen chuckled. “Sure. It would certainly help me and my parents out. All of the above would be great, to be honest,” he answered, giving the genius a small smile.

His reply was a great, big, evil grin from the man. Clint shuddered in anticipation. He knew Tony would probably make the agency’s take-down as public as possible, or go through SHIELD to destroy them so completely and utterly that they would never be able to recover.

In the interest of turning the conversation away from the annihilation of a government agency, Clint asked, “So, you said you had scars from other things. What were they?”

The teen merely shook his head. “Some are from ghost hunting, but... I’m not going into that. Again, none of your business. Maybe one day, I’ll tell you, but right now... it’s going to stay a secret.” He turned to look out the windows, and sighed. He was  _ exhausted. _

Steve stood up, and sat next to the teen. When Danny glanced at him, he smiled warmly and reassuringly at him. “You’re right, Danny. It isn’t our business. I guess we just got nosy because we were concerned about you. I don’t think any of us want you hurt, and I can’t speak for the others, but I would fight to prevent that.”

“Ditto, squirt. I don’t have many friends, and... well, you get the idea,” Tony chimed in. He had his arms crossed over his chest defiantly, as if to say  _ ‘so just try me’ _ . He nodded to Steve in agreement of his statement.

Clint grinned. “You’re a good kid, Danny. I may not be as attached to you as they are, but Steve’s right. I wouldn’t want to see you hurt.” He grimaced, and added, “Heck, I still feel bad about scaring you so much when we first met.”

The raven-haired teen swallowed thickly, choked up with emotion. He hadn’t really expected this, if he were to be honest. He just thought Tony was fond of him enough to call him a friend, not that he  _ really  _ mattered to these people. And to think he would probably never see them again after he went home on Saturday....

“Thanks,” he breathed, smiling. The other three nodded in acknowledgement, and they all settled in to watch television together to relax. 

 

* * *

 

Lunch was a feast of popcorn and candy bars, with soda shared around. Not terribly healthy, but it was fun, so the four of them rolled with it. The whole thing had a kind of ‘sleepover’ air to it, and Danny chuckled at the thought of three grown men having a sleepover. Oddly enough, it wasn’t that weird of a thought when applied to the trio he was with. All of them were laid back enough for it.

They were just about to get into another movie when Danny’s phone rang. He checked the caller ID, and said, “I’m going to have to take this. Be right back.” Sam normally didn’t call him when he was away unless it was important.

Tapping the button to accept the call, he answered, “Danny here.”

_ “Hey, Danny,” _ Sam exclaimed.  _ “Listen, something’s going on in the Ghost Zone, and we can’t really handle it alone. I don’t think it’ll spill into our world anytime soon, but Clockwork’s sent Dan to get you, so he should show up there soon.” _

Danny groaned softly. “Thanks for the heads up. I was gonna talk to you and Tucker about what happened today later tonight, but I guess I’ll be seeing you sooner than that. I just don’t know how I’m gonna explain this... but I’ll manage. Thanks, again.”

_ “No problem, ghost boy,” _ she replied warmly.  _ “See you when you get back.” _

“Bye.” He locked his phone and tucked it back in his pocket. He could always escape the tower early and not have to deal with the others meeting Dan, but knowing that headache, the ghost would just show up there  _ anyway _ . He might as well make the most of the hour or so he had left with the others.

Tony glanced up at Danny, frowning at the grimace he wore. “What’s up, squirt?”

“Something’s come up back home,” he answered, shrugging. “A cousin of sorts will be coming to get me in an hour or two. I can hang around until then, but it can’t be avoided.” No use making up some dumb excuse that none of them would believe.

Steve also frowned at that. “Do you need any help? Is it something with the G.I.W.?”

Danny let out a short laugh, and replied, “Oh, Ancients, I hope not. No, I don’t think it is. My friend didn’t sound panicked enough for that, and they probably wouldn’t need  _ me _ to solve a problem as simple as them.”

None of the others felt it necessary to point out the odd swear Danny had used, and simply filed it with the mountain of other questions they had for the teen. It didn’t really provide any insight into the giant mystery that was Danny Fenton at that point, anyway.

“Well, that’s good,” Steve commented, smiling. “We can probably finish the movie, if we start now.” He picked up the remote and hit play, passing the giant popcorn bowl over to the teen and catching the chocolate bar that Clint tossed at him. 

Danny nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Make the most of the time we have left, right?” he reasoned. The three nodded their agreement, and they all settled in to watch the movie.

 

* * *

 

The movie was almost finished when JARVIS interrupted. “Sirs, there is a Dan here to see Mr. Fenton. He did not specify beyond that. Shall I send him up?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, we’re almost done with the movie. He can hang out until it’s over.”

Danny laughed quietly to himself. Tony had no idea what he was getting into, but far be it from him to prevent Dan from having non-destructive fun. He just hoped they wouldn’t get into a fight or something. Or that they’d notice just how similar the two of them were. 

_ “Yeah, like they wouldn’t notice the only differences are age, facial hair, and a slightly bulkier build,” _ Danny thought ruefully.

When the elevator doors opened and a tall man strolled confidently out, Danny hid his ghost sense by pretending to yawn and cover his mouth. Then, he waved to his “cousin” without taking his eyes off the TV. 

“Hey, Dan,” he called. 

The tall, buff man wandered over and leaned over the couch next to his younger self. “So, you’ve been hanging out with the local heroes, huh?” he asked, a grin on his face and smugness in his voice.

Danny rolled his eyes and leaned his head back. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

And indeed, Dan chuckled deeply. “Your voice changed. You sound like me,” he drawled. “So, aren’t you gonna introduce me to your friends?”

The teen sighed. “The movie’s almost done, so sit down. You can torment everyone  _ after _ it’s finished,” he muttered, giving the man’s shoulder a shove. Dan shrugged and hopped the couch to sit next to the halfa.

When the movie was finally over, he was leaning against Danny with his arm thrown around the teen. As someone who loved to mess with people’s heads, faking a relationship with his “cousin” was always a fun way to screw around with everyone’s minds.

“Alright, Dan,” Danny snapped, “enough.” He hopped up off the couch, straightening his shirt out and glaring at the raven-haired man. “Did that old stopwatch  _ want _ you to come to the tower? For some reason, I can’t really see that happening.”

The ghost just shrugged. “If he really wanted me not to, he would’ve told me, or sent your other cousin. By the way, she’s doing well. Cujo’s really taken a liking to her,” he replied. Danielle had been staying in the Far Frozen and Clockwork’s lair on a regular basis for the past couple of days, and he’d gotten a chance to say hi to her once or twice.

Danny nodded, grinning. “That’s great. Oh, so you already know these people are the local heroes, right? Well, meet Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Clint Barton. Iron Man, Captain America, and Hawkeye, respectively.”

“Nice to meet you three. Been taking care of my cousin while he’s been in town?” the man asked, voice deep and holding a hint of warning. His grin was less like the open, warm one Danny wore around them and more like what they’d expect Loki to wear.

Clint instantly didn’t like this man. His physique was different, but he held the same dangerous, mischievous air that the trickster god had. He would be polite for Danny’s sake, but he wouldn’t be able to be honestly  _ nice _ to this man.

Tony grinned back, his smile a little less dangerous than Dan’s. “Of course. He’s probably safer here than he is back home, to tell the truth,” he replied.

Dan laughed, “Yeah, pretty much. Still, can’t help but worry about the little guy.”

Danny rolled his eyes and snapped, “Hey, I’m almost as tall as you now! Besides, you worrying about me? Funny, try again.”

“I never said  _ I _ worried about you. That’s all Sam and Tucker,” he drawled. 

Steve frowned. “You don’t worry about your cousin?”

Dan chuckled at that. “Oh, I don’t need to. He can take care of himself. His friends have just gotten in the habit of worrying, what with the ever-common ghost attacks and such. But, we really should be going soon. This one’s still gotta tell his parents he’ll be going home early.”

Danny sighed. “At least they’re probably still on lunch break. I can call them on the way over to the hotel. They’re probably going to be annoyed with me.”

He stepped forward, and hesitated. What was really appropriate in this situation? Handshakes, maybe? He grimaced, and mentally shrugged. He was still really awkward in social situations. 

“Well, maybe I’ll see you guys around. If you’re ever in Minnesota, feel free to drop by,” Danny commented, smiling sadly. They’d probably never see each other again.

Steve nodded. “Same thing with New York. Stop by, and Tony will probably throw you a party. He does things like that.”

Tony threw them his publicity grin, and raised a glass towards them. “Always. Have fun back home, squirt. I might even visit sometime. I’ll probably have to if I want to get rid of the G.I.W., y’know, for evidence and stuff.”

With that, Danny departed. He and Dan had things to do and places to be, after all.


	15. Behind the Scenes

Back at SHIELD headquarters, Nick Fury was reading over three extensive reports that were undeniably linked. Wednesday had seen a break-in and sensitive information uncovered by a certain hacker they hadn’t even considered a risk. Until now.

SHIELD knew about Tucker Foley before, as they had a file on everyone they viewed as potential recruits. Between the ghost hunting the boy had been doing and the incredible skill he manipulated technology with, their organization considered him a possible asset. That he was friends with the youngest Fenton and associated with Phantom were only bonuses. No one had expected him to hack into their system to retrieve sensitive information.

That had caused a very large headache, and Fury had to tell Romanov that her file had been compromised, when she reported in to him about Fenton. The teen was almost more trouble than he was worth. If he wasn’t involved with Fenton and Phantom so deeply, they would’ve just had him punished appropriately for his transgressions, or hired on as a trainee. As it stood, neither of those were options at the moment.

Then, there was the issue with Fenton, and his relationship with the Avengers team, minus Thor. Natasha had ascertained that he was indeed acquainted with them through Stark, merely by chance. She had also explained that he was very uncomfortable and guarded around her and Clint, but tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. Fenton seemed to be a good person in general, and was actually able to tolerate Stark’s incessant chatter. Impressive.

For the moment, Fury was willing to view Phantom as a separate entity from Fenton, despite the building evidence. It didn’t change much in his plans for the teen or the ghost, and he still didn’t have any proof. Phantom was already being considered for an addition to the Avengers team, and Fenton would make a good addition to SHIELD with his engineering skill and general knowledge of ectotechnology. 

So, the three files giving him a massive headache were Phantom’s, Fenton’s, and Foley’s. The hacker teen was a security risk to them. Fenton was too close to the Avengers to not be involved with SHIELD in some way, at this point. Phantom had the potential to become another member of the Avengers. 

If only everything were simpler. 

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Natasha was having a chat with Agent Coulson. She knew Clint hadn’t really paid attention to all of the possible Avengers recruits, especially since he had been... out of commission... for a while during the beginning of the whole Loki fiasco. More often than not, the archer left potential threats and allies up to his handler, Coulson, to deal with unless they pertained to whatever his current mission was. Which meant that the calm, unflappable agent had a better idea of what her friend was getting into by befriending Daniel Fenton.

Her mission being temporarily suspended due to the lack of a decision on Fury’s part, the impressive assassin knew she had plenty of time to hang around and...  _ chat _ , for lack of a better term. 

“Natasha, what brings you to my little corner of H.Q.?” Coulson greeted, giving her one of his typical calm smiles.

She frowned. “I’m pretty sure you know,” she drawled. “Aren’t you concerned about Clint’s new relationship? It could prove dangerous for one or both parties. You know more about what’s going on in Amity Park than even I do, I’m sure.”

He inclined his head, and stood. “Yes, but I’m hardly going to stop him from making friends with a young man whose heart is in the right place. I think that the benefits outweigh the possible drawbacks of it.”

The red-headed woman sighed, and asked, “So, Director Fury and I are the only ones who are actually concerned about the Avengers associating with this kid?” She paused, thinking. “Have you heard the Director’s theory about Phantom?”

Coulson let out a soft chuckle. He grinned. “Who involved in this mess hasn’t? Remember, I was the agent he sent out to meet most of the Avengers in the first place. The Phantom-Fenton theory isn’t new to me.”

“Of course not, how could I forget that?” she bit back sarcastically, accompanied with an eye roll. She smirked, and added, “The kid’s got the muscles and stance to back it up. Not a well-trained fighter, but an experienced one. He looks like he could do some damage, if provoked. I don’t think he’s one to fight if it isn’t necessary, though.”

“Then what’s the issue?” the man asked curiously. “If Fenton is Phantom, he can take care of himself, and is already fighting with similar morals to guide him. If not, well, if you’re right, he can take care of himself should the need arise.”

Natasha glared. “It’s just... something about this whole situation makes me uncomfortable.”

That comment made Coulson actually laugh a bit. He replied, “Maybe it’s the fact that there’s an enemy out there you can’t always hit.”

Agent Coulson’s laughter followed the grumbling assassin down the hall as she left.

 

* * *

 

In an undisclosed location, elsewhere in the states, Bruce wondered. He wondered about Danny’s parents, and whether they had been clued in to their son’s overly odd behavior due to his curious questions. He wondered how well Danny was getting on with the Clint and Natasha in his absence, and whether he had slipped up again in front of the others. He wondered about what Danny’s secret could possibly be, that would lead him to be so fearful and panicked. 

The scientist had thought about these things at length while doing the almost mindless work SHIELD had assigned him. The things they had him assessing were so easy to him now that he found himself with plenty of time to wonder and hypothesize about his newest friend’s worrying secret. 

He had the feeling Danny would be okay in the end, though. The teenager was tough, and he had dealt with whatever it was for nearly three years, apparently. Yes, Danny would be fine.

 

* * *

 

Sam and Tucker were worried about Danny, and whatever was going on in the Ghost Zone that Dan couldn’t or wouldn’t handle. Truth be told, they had been completely fine during their friend’s short absence. Ghosts hadn’t really shown themselves, and the few that did were either ones they fought on a nearly-weekly basis or very weak. Dan didn’t even need to get involved, aside from providing his younger self some peace of mind.

At first, Sam and Tucker had been thrilled about their friend being dragged off to New York and forced to relax a bit. Danny deserved a vacation, and they all knew he hadn’t had one in forever... or at least, it felt that way. Even meeting Tony Stark seemed like a purely positive thing when the halfa had told them about his first day there.

Things had just slowly gone downhill from there for the teenager. Sam was a little annoyed at how much he had been giving away to other people, even if it was all by accident. Tucker was just worried. He knew Danny was stressing about it just as much as they were, and getting angry at their friend wouldn’t help things. So, he and Sam continued to support him as much as they could from hundreds of miles away. 

After Danny told them about his panic attack, Sam had honestly considered calling Jazz home from college. Since the teen’s parents didn’t know his secret, they didn’t know about his panic attacks, either, and he had never gotten the chance to see a real therapist. His older sister was a genius, though. She had taken on that role to help her little brother whenever she returned home for a visit, or even over the phone on occasion.

Then everything had come to a head when Tucker was asked to find information on two agents who happened to be part of the biggest shadow government organization he had ever heard of. To be fair, he didn’t actually  _ know _ of any others, but even in fiction or urban legends, most shadow governments didn’t have reach as far as SHIELD did.  _ And _ they were totally legitimate, which was the scary part.

So, both best friends had been greatly relieved when Dan came back from a visit to the Ghost Zone and announced he would be retrieving Danny early from his vacation. Their friend was coming home, hopefully no worse for wear.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

 

* * *

 

A very old ghost sat and watched the many viewscreens he had set up around his lair. He chuckled quietly to himself as he watched all the various players fall into line, each and every one slowly moving towards the most favorable outcome for both worlds.

The soft ticking of many clocks, all in sync, filled the air as the tense silence stretched on. The timeless ghost had no doubt that his ward would make the right decision when the time came, but he felt a slight weight in his chest at the thought of what he needed to tell the young halfa. The events surrounding Daniel’s existence were as foggy as ever, but some things remained clear from the moment the portal accident failed to completely take the young boy’s life, and would always remain as such. 

The master of time watched on in the quiet darkness with a heavy sigh.


	16. The Trip Home

On the ground level, Happy was waiting with a car to take Dan and Danny back to the hotel the Fentons had been staying at. Dan had initially planned on coercing his younger self into just flying back, but this was  _ much _ more convenient and comfortable.

Danny, however, was surprised. “Happy? Did Tony send you to take us back?”

The chauffeur nodded and smiled slightly. “Mr. Stark alerted me to your departure, yes.”

“You really don’t need to, it must be a hassle,” the teen protested. 

Dan crossed his arms and glared at his “cousin”. He commented, “If Stark wants us to use a service he is paying for, it’d be rude not to. Besides, it looks like  _ Happy _ , here, is a bit bored. I’m sure he wants something to do. Right, Happy?”

Happy laughed a bit, and answered, “It is rare that I actually get to  _ drive _ anyone somewhere. Mr. Stark prefers to be behind the wheel, if you remember, sir.” He was hired by Tony to be a chauffeur, but he mostly drove the car to places after the billionaire had arrived or was departing. He was a bit bored, if he was honest.

Danny punched the raven-haired man in the shoulder. “Like you ever cared about being rude or not,” he muttered sarcastically. “Alright, we’ll let Happy drive us back to the hotel. It’ll give me time to call my parents. Good?”

Both men grinned at him, and the teen had a distinct feeling he had just been manipulated several times over without putting up any resistance. Or ganged up upon. Either worked, he wasn’t choosy. 

Dan herded him towards the waiting vehicle, and unceremoniously shoved him in the back seat. Danny thought he heard a laugh from Happy, but he couldn’t be sure. It wouldn’t really surprise him if he had. 

Once they were all settled and on the road, Danny pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text to his mother. He wasn’t sure whether they’d still be on lunch break or not, and he didn’t want to accidentally interrupt their lecture.

After a positive reply, he pressed call and held the phone up to speak. “Hey, Mom.”

_ “Hi, sweetie. Is something the matter?” _ she answered, worry in her voice.

The teen chuckled, and grinned. “No, Mom. Something’s just come up back home in Amity Park, I’m going to be heading back early,” he replied reassuringly.

_ “Something back home is wrong? Do your father and I need to come?” _

“No,” he hastily snapped. “No, it’s nothing like that. Uh, Sam got sick, and I need to go see her. Nothing life-threatening, but she’s pretty out of it, and apparently asking for me and Tucker. Don’t worry about transportation, either, it’s been covered.”

He heard his mom sigh.  _ “Alright, sweetie, if you’re sure... oh, we just didn’t get to do anything together! Your father and I are always busy with lectures during the day, and you’re hanging out with your new friends... I hoped we could have some family time. Oh well.” _

Danny also sighed. “Sorry about that, Mom. Maybe next time.”

_ “I love you, Danny. Stay safe, and remember to call if you need any help.” _

“Of course, Mom. Love you, too. Bye,” he responded, and quietly hung up the call. Danny looked over to see a somber expression on his future self’s face. He wished Dan was able to reacquaint himself with their parents, but it wasn’t possible as long as he kept the fact that he was Phantom a secret. The teen placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

“Ready to head home?” he asked calmly.

“Always,” came Dan’s low response.

 

* * *

 

After Danny had left with his “cousin”, Steve, Clint, and Tony had sat in the living room in silence, considering everything that had been revealed to them. The three Avengers all knew and could admit that they had become attached to the teenager during his short stay, and knowing that there was something going on that required him to go home didn’t ease their worries any. Just looking at those scars revealed by the swim trunks had made them all uneasy. The fact that the teen had another panic attack hadn’t helped, either.

Tony let out a long, heavy sigh. He wished Pepper was there. She would probably know what to do about everything. He also wondered where to start on disbanding the Guys In White, that idiot agency that was responsible for one of Danny’s biggest fears, apparently.

Steve coughed a little, and asked, “So, is anyone gonna comment on how similar those ‘cousins’ looked?” The super soldier thought it strange that the raven-haired Fentons both had the exact same voice, skin tone, hair color, and facial structure. If ‘Dan’ wasn’t so much older than Danny, he would’ve assumed they were twins.

“It was weird,” Tony obliged, making his comment. His mind was too busy to really contribute much.

Clint shrugged. “Genetics are weird like that, sometimes,” he added. “I mean, look at me. My sight is almost a mutant power, but I don’t have the X-gene. I just happened to win the genetic lottery when it came to vision.”

The Captain realized he had an entirely valid point. While Clint was at one end of the genetic luck scale, he had initially been at the other end, before the super serum. Asthma, heart conditions, weak constitution, and a myriad of other things had affected him before he became known as the ‘First Avenger’.

“Still,” he argued, “Danny said they were cousins. I’d get it if they were siblings, but cousins? It seems a little far-fetched, honestly. The only real differences between the two were ages and voice inflections. Dan tended to drawl and use sarcasm a bit more.”

Tony snorted. “I didn’t realize you were so observant, Capsicle. Got a little crush on tall, dark, and mysterious?” he asked, taunting the muscular man. 

Steve rolled his eyes, ignoring Clint’s surprised laugh. “Ha ha, very funny. No, I just think it’s odd, and I’ve spend enough time around Danny this past week to notice the differences. I’d say you should’ve noticed, too, but we all know your information comes from JARVIS.”

“Hey!” the genius protested.

“Oh, you two leave each other alone,” came a sharp voice. The elevator closed behind Pepper, her hands on her hips, face set in a disapproving scowl. “Captain, I expected better from you. I already know not to expect much from our resident super-genius, though.”

“Thank you for the ego-boost, I think,” aforementioned super-genius muttered in confusion, “but really, insults, Pepper? You can totally expect more from me!”

She rolled her eyes. “Tony, your maturity usually hovers around that of a hyper five-year-old. Sometimes, you even make it up to six!” the woman replied cheerfully. 

“I resent that! I’m  _ at least  _ seven at all times! The Capsicle just brings me  _ down _ to five when I’m around him.” He crossed his arms, glaring at the super soldier. Really, he was usually better than that. There was just something about Steve that made him want to argue everything with the man. Not very helpful between teammates, but whatever.

Clint just reached over and lightly smacked him upside the head. “Not what we’re worrying about right now, tin can. Pepper, Danny just left. Something came up, and he had to go home early. After everything we’ve learned about the kid over the week, we’re all pretty worried about what the problem could be.”

The red-headed woman’s shoulders slumped a little, and she let her hands slip from her hips to rest at her sides. Joining them on the couches surrounding the TV, she asked, “What did you find out to make you so worried?”

Steve, Tony, and Clint all glanced at each other. “He’s got a lot of pretty bad scars,” Tony commented, suddenly finding the window very interesting.

“Panic attacks aren’t really unusual, it seems,” Steve added. “He had another one just a little while ago.”

Clint shrugged, and grimaced. “The Guys In White don’t care about people, just eliminating their targets, which are supposed to be ghosts. A lot of Danny’s scars come from them, or accidents caused by them.”

Pepper let out a shaky breath, and smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles out of her skirt. “It looks like Danny has quite a few concerning secrets... Tony, do you remember the dinner party where you introduced us?”

The genius nodded slowly, and she continued, “Well, he hinted that Mr. Masters had powers of some kind, and that they used to be less than friendly. In fact, he used the word ‘enemies’ to describe their past relationship.”

All three men exchanged alarmed looks. Was Masters a villain? But he and Danny were friendly, now... had they fought? Did  _ Danny _ have powers? Was his hint about Masters having powers true? Whatever the teen had to return home take care of had to be something to do with some of the secrets he had been holding close.

“You know...” Tony trailed off, pausing to consider his options. “I think it might be a good idea to show up for a surprise visit. Just in case.”

Clint nodded seriously, picking up his bow from its spot against the wall. Steve’s face was grim and he stood, pulling on his leather jacket. Pepper nodded in agreement and pulled out her phone to reschedule meetings for the next two days, just to be sure she wouldn’t miss anything important.

Tony thought about calling Natasha and Bruce. He didn’t have any intention of waiting for Thor, since the god wasn’t expected until the next week. Natasha, though... Danny had never been at ease around the assassin. It would probably be for the best if he didn’t call her up.

Bruce, while Tony was sure the teen would appreciate his presence, was busy with work from SHIELD. The scientist most likely couldn’t get away, but he would call and leave him a message, anyway. The billionaire was pretty sure he was on the West Coast, somewhere. It wouldn’t be too out of the way for SHIELD to drop him off in Minnesota instead of taking him all the way back to New York.

Now that they had a plan, they left to get ready. Everyone wanted to be prepared in case something went wrong and they had to fight, after all. Danny was one of their own, now, and they protected their own.


	17. Arrival and Revelations (Part One)

Danny touched down gently on the asphalt, his senses filling with the quiet bustle of life in his hometown. Dan landed calmly beside him and they surveyed their surroundings. Nothing seemed to be too out of order. The sky was clear, just beginning to change color as evening approached, and there was no obvious mass destruction. Whatever was happening in the Ghost Zone hadn’t spilled over into the human world, yet.

Brushing the hair out of his eyes, Dan shot the younger ghost a questioning look. The two of them hadn’t talked on their long flight home. It was unnecessary, and annoying to keep shouting at one another over the sound of the roaring wind, since they didn’t have Fenton Phones on them. Danny hadn’t mentioned what he wanted to do when they reached Amity Park, so the full ghost had been left wondering.

With a sigh, the teen answered his unspoken question. “It’d be best to go find out what’s going on, first. Sam and Tucker will be here when we get back, and I don’t want to wait to find out what could be so wrong that I need to come clear it up personally.”

“Alright, kiddo. Lead the way,” Dan drawled cheerfully. 

While the full ghost had done a lot of traveling in the ten years since the incident, he had always been most comfortable in Amity Park, his true home, or the Ghost Zone. It unnerved him to be around so many innocent and ignorant people when he left the confines of the small urban town. The redeemed villain rarely left his two homes to go elsewhere, one he settled down.

Danny rolled his eyes and pushed off into the air, flying for the bright neon sign no one could miss. Phantom was back, and he had a job to do.

 

* * *

 

Phasing through the wall into Sam’s room, Danny dropped lightly to the floor and shifted back to his human form. The goth girl was relaxing on her bed with a Nintendo DS, leaning up against the headboard and some pillows. Near the foot of the bed, Tucker was lying down with his legs dangling over the edge of the mattress. His PDA in hand, he looked completely at ease there.

“Hey, guys,” Danny called, grinning brightly. It was good to be home.

Both of his friends snapped to attention, turning to face the halfa. “Danny! You’re back!” Sam shouted happily. “Did the return trip go smoothly?”

Nodding, Danny explained, “I’m pretty sure I gave the Avengers  _ another _ thing to wonder about, what with Dan’s appearance matching mine so closely, but we got out without being questioned too much. Mom and Dad didn’t seem too worried about it, I used the excuse that you were sick, Sam. Nothing horrible, but you wanted me and Tucker near you.”

She closed her eyes and nodded sharply. “Good, good. We don’t have to worry about those two bursting in on us halfway through solving the territory dispute in the Ghost Zone.” Danny gave her a look, but she didn’t elaborate further.

“Yeah.” Tucker added, “It’s not one of the standard issues, either. The ghost who started it seems to be pretty powerful for once. Nothing  _ you _ couldn’t handle, but Dan wasn’t the best choice for the job. The ghost uses water-based attacks, and he has a heat core, after all. The most he’d be able to do would be to turn her to steam, and steam is still water.”

Understanding dawned on the halfa. “Oh. Because I’ve got an ice core, I can take care of her pretty easily, right? But why not send Danielle? Isn’t she staying with Frostbite for now?” he asked curiously.

Sam and Tucker exchanged a glance, and both teens shrugged. Tucker admitted, “Dani  _ did _ try to take care of it, with Dan for backup. She was doing pretty well, but she’s lacking the fighting experience to actually defeat the new ghost. Weakening, she can do, but that girl’s got nothing on you, dude.”

“Dan got her out of the fight safely, but he and Clockwork decided that it was too dangerous for her to go back and try again,” Sam stated firmly. “You know we wouldn’t have called you back for anything less than an emergency.”

Sighing, Danny ruffled his hair anxiously. “I know, I know, it’s just...”

“You were having fun,” Tucker finished knowingly. 

“Yeah. It was nice to be a regular teenager for once, y’know? Well, it was bound to end early, anyways. With how my luck  _ usually _ is, I’m surprised it hadn’t gone to hell earlier.” He let the silvery-white rings travel up and down his body, shifting back to ghost form. “Do you guys want to be my backup?”

Sam grinned at him and pulled a box out from under her bed. It was filled to the brim with various ecto-weapons and ghost hunting gear. “Did you even need to ask?” The raven-haired girl handed Tucker a modified wrist-ray and the permanent containment device they’d made after watching ‘Ghostbusters’. Danny had gotten plenty of new ideas from that movie.

The halfa chuckled and waited until both humans were fully equipped before phasing them out of the house and flying off towards home. 

 

* * *

 

Dan met the trio of teenagers in front of the portal, grinning excitedly. He may not be a good match for the ghost behind the territory dispute, but that ghost’s minions were more than enough to entertain him for a while. Adding to that, they were disrupting the relative peace and order in the Ghost Zone, which meant he wouldn’t have to hold back against them. They would be punished by Danny or the Observants, if not him.

“Heya, mini-me, goth girl, techno-geek,” he greeted, giving a jaunty wave. “Ready to head out and kick some ass?”

Tucker threw his fists up into the air in excitement when he spotted the Spectre Speeder prepped and waiting. “Alright! Field trip!” he cheered, racing up the lowered ramp. Sam and Danny just rolled their eyes, and the gothic teen followed at a much more sedate pace.

The halfa let out a quiet, echoing chuckle at his best friends’ antics. Dan’s grin shifted into a soft smile when he heard the teen’s laugh, and silently agreed with the sentiment. When he’d been... shown the error of his ways, so to speak, it had been Sam, Tucker, and Jazz who had given him the most support in changing for the better. He knew he was still a work-in-progress, but his efforts weren’t in vain, certainly.

Learning that he had a ‘cousin’ was the best part. Danielle was an amazing little halfa, and he was glad he had the chance to meet the girl. Danny had also been surprisingly friendly to him when Clockwork and the teenaged halfa released him to work on his moral alignment. It felt like having younger siblings, and the loneliness that came from the Plasmius half of his being was mostly filled by those two.

Now, on their way to the area where that she-witch set up her base, Dan grew more and more fired up for the fight they’d soon have on their hands. That water-bitch had hurt Dani, even if he’d managed to get the thirteen-year-old out of the fight in time to prevent serious damage. It was time for a little  _ revenge _ .

Glancing over at his younger self, he frowned pensively. “Hey, kiddo,” he called, getting the teen’s attention.

“Yeah? What?” Danny asked curiously, eyebrows raised in surprise as they flew along. It wasn’t often that Dan started up a conversation for something other than amusement, or to ease his own boredom.

“Make sure to hit that water-bitch extra hard for me, okay? She did a bit of damage to Dani before I could get the little midget out of there, and I’m pissed that I won’t have the chance to get a few hits in myself,” he replied lowly, eyes flashing momentarily.

Danny nodded seriously, expression hardening. “Sure thing, Dan.”

Both of them were overprotective of Dani-with-an-i, though their reasons were a little different. Danny was a bit overprotective because he’d been there when the girl was manipulated by Vlad and sent after him only to be discarded later. When she nearly got destroyed by her body’s instability, it scared the other halfa. They had bonded over time, and that bond only grew deeper as time passed.

Dan felt the girl was family, and since he’d lost his whole family once, he was a great deal more protective over what remained. That is, after he stopped trying to kill everyone again. Jazz said it was something about not being able to come to terms with his insanity, or something like that. Basically, Danny couldn’t deal with losing his family, and when Phantom was ripped out, that warped the ghost half’s obsession into something darker, and he dealt with it by twisting that even more ad choosing to be evil. 

So, since  _ both _ Phantoms cared deeply for Danielle, there was a certain amount of payback guaranteed to whoever hurt her, if she couldn’t do it herself. Tucker and Sam usually ignored the lengths both Phantoms went to in order to achieve that, and this time was no different. They both ignored the ghostly duo as they approached the edge of the territory the new ghost had taken over.

“Hey, idiots!” Sam shouted into her Fenton-Phone. “We’re here!”

_ “Ouch! Sam, no need to shout,” _ Danny protested.  _ “We can hear you loud and clear.” _

“Right, ghost boy, now focus on the task at hand.”

Tucker snickered, and looked through the info on his PDA. “Okay, so! The ghost’s base is towards the back of the swamp in the center of the main island. Standard defenses, from what Dan and Dani said, mostly low-powered minions. It’s... huh, it looks like a witch’s hut from Minecraft. Weird.”

_ “You see why I called her water-witch?” _ Dan drawled.

_ “You called her water- _ bitch _ , Dan. Out loud, at least.” _

“Enough, boys! Now, we’ll focus on taking out any of the small-fry we come across until we reach the water-witch’s base. You two should save your energy and run wild once we arrive at the main event,” Sam stated, coming up with a basic plan.

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed. “No real strategy outside of ‘hit ‘em hard’ and what we’ve decided before. Dan takes out the minions, have fun with that, and Danny gets the mastermind behind this whole mess. Remember, dude, keep your ice powers at the surface. She can’t control it if it’s frozen solid.”

_ “Got it, thanks, Tuck,” _ the halfa acknowledged. 

Both Phantoms stared at each other for a moment, and then nodded, taking off towards the new ghost’s base. This would be over quickly, with any luck, and they’d be back in Amity Park before anyone noticed they were gone..


	18. Arrival and Revelations (Part Two)

Once again, Clint and Steve were  _ incredibly _ happy that Tony owned a private jet. In fact, the billionaire owned several, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that they could get to Minnesota  _ very _ quickly, in comparison to however long it would’ve taken them to find a flight for the three men or  _ drive _ there. Clint, especially, was happy about how painless and easy the process was for them. It was so much easier! Much, much easier. 

Tony brought his suit, Steve had his shield tucked away behind one of the cushy benches there were to sit on, and Clint had brought his bow, two large bowie knives, boot daggers, a grappling hook, and of course, his quiver of specialized arrows. Plus a few cases of spare arrows, just in case.

Sitting around the largest table on the jet, the men were reorganizing the information they had on Danny, Amity Park, and anything unusual to do with the two. Steve had brought the papers JARVIS printed out for him, with all the little notes he’d made, and spread them out like he had done when discussing them with Tony the first time.

“So, let’s start with what we know about Amity Park. That’s simple, and doesn’t have the same amount of unanswerable questions that Danny himself has. Alright?” Tony began, tugging a few sheets forward from the spread.

Clint nodded, chewing on the tip of his pen. “Well, what’s the first thing anyone learns when they hear about Amity Park?  _ Ghosts _ . It’s the most spiritually active town in the US. It’s why the G.I.W. have a base there.”

Steve grimaced at the reminder, and added, “It also isn’t very big, and a lot of the building there is people making repairs and fixing property damage. Danny mentioned that they even have a local television channel designated for the recordings of various ghost fights people have managed to get.”

“So, people there view the ghosts as... what? An annoyance? A spectator sport?” Clint asked curiously. 

“Both, probably, and more,” Tony answered. “We know a lot about Amity Park in general. The ghost phenomena only really picked up three years ago, when the Fentons’ Ghost Portal was activated. That’s how  _ most _ of the ghosts are able to leave the Ghost Zone, or so our young expert has explained. Before that, it was still a hot spot, but nothing compared to what it is these days. There’s a local ghost that acts as a protector and vigilante against other ghosts that come to wreak havoc, too. Danny called the ghost Phantom, and seems oddly invested in how the public views that ghost in particular. Anything else?”

“Uh...” Steve muttered confusedly. “No? I mean, I don’t think so.”

“G.I.W. base, and Vlad Masters was the mayor up until recently, it seems,” Clint added, looking over one of the papers. 

Tony’s eyes widened and he snatched the sheet from the archer’s hands. It was true that Masters had been the mayor of Amity Park. After the ghosts started appearing, even. It was only recently that he left the minor government office. That was something Tony hadn’t known about the man, even though they were rivals. Did JARVIS just deem it too unimportant to bother informing him about? Or did it pass their notice some other way?

Then he remembered what Pepper had mentioned. “Vlad Masters and Danny were ‘enemies’ at some point in time. Remember what Pepper said, Steve? The kiddo hinted that Masters had powers of some kind, because we were going head to head for a minute. Their relationship is a positive one right now, though.”

“Of course,” Steve sighed. “I guess there’s nothing more we know about Amity Park?”

Clint frowned, and Tony shrugged. “JARVIS can do some more background research, but off the top of my head, I don’t think so. The only other thing of note is that the Fentons live there, and that’s sort of a  _ ‘duh’  _ thing.” He stood to go get some scotch from the mini-fridge towards the back of the lounge area. “You guys want some?”

Getting two negative responses, he shrugged and poured himself a decent-sized glass of the stuff. He mused, “Danny is highly intelligent. That’s one of the first things we all noticed about him, right? Not to mention he’s an engineering  _ genius _ , which earns him brownie points in  _ my _ mind. I mean, come on, the kid can build pretty much anything with a little help. Awesome.”

Clint snorted. “Yeah. He’s like a mini-Tony, but less annoying.”

“Hey, I resent that,” Tony called over his shoulder, putting a mini-pizza in the microwave. “I am  _ also _ more hyperactive than him. And I know how to code. Danny can’t do that.”

“Anyway,” Steve drawled, ignoring the man, “Danny’s smart. His grades don’t show it, and he constantly misses school. Each member of his direct family is a genius in some area or another, too. We don’t know  _ why _ he misses school so much, and we don’t know where he goes when he  _ does _ skip.”

They paused to consider that. Low grades, constantly skipping school, but very intelligent in general, Daniel Fenton was a mystery to them even without the rest of the information they’d uncovered about the teenager. The disappearances from school reminded Tony about all of the other times the boy went missing for over a day. They discussed that, and the ‘summer camp’ that he apparently went to. The mutual friend both Masters and Danny had that was a ‘history buff’ was also very confusing.

They continued to write down everything they came up with, connecting some things and answering a few questions, only to end up with a massive, gaping hole that was a glaringly obvious lack of information about the boy’s life.

“Alright, so, Danny is more secretive than SHIELD.” Clint rubbed his face tiredly. “They at least have systems to hack into, and records kept  _ somewhere _ about everything. Does  _ anybody _ know what this kid does in his off time? When he disappears?”

Steve groaned, burying his head in his arms on the messy table. He was worried, deeply concerned about his new friend’s safety in general, and this whole investigation wasn’t helping to ease his nerves any. In fact, the more they learned, the more worried Steve got. This kid was even younger than  _ he _ had been when he was given the serum that turned him into the protector of justice and the super soldier that he was now.

“This would be so much easier with Bruce here,” he grumbled into his arms. 

Tony snorted, reclining back against the seat. He’d made his way through six glasses of scotch before just drinking straight from the bottle to save time. “Yeah, Bruce was a little better at handling the kiddo than any of us, and he spent less time with Danny overall. That’d make it easier for him to spot things we missed, which would be a  _ great _ help right now. Not to be rude, or anything, but you two don’t think like Bruce does, and he’s what we need. Neither do I, honestly, but I’m not particularly bothered by that. Are you bothered by how you think? It’d be really annoying if you didn’t like the way your brain worked, wouldn’t it?”

“Ugh,  _ shut up _ , Tony,” Clint growled, joining Steve on the table with a dull thunk of forehead hitting wood. 

The genius pouted, but complied. They’d reach Amity Park soon, anyway.

 

* * *

 

Bruce received the message Tony had sent him just as he was wrapping up the project SHIELD had him working on. The fact that Danny had needed to leave New York early was a bit concerning, especially given what he’d learned from the Fentons and the teen himself about the ghost activity in Amity Park. He wasn’t necessarily worried about Danny’s safety, persay, but he allowed himself to wonder what had happened that made him need to leave.

Following the notice of half his team’s whereabouts, the physicist arranged transport to Minnesota at the earliest convenience, instead of going back to New York. It wasn’t as if he had need of anything at the tower for what he hoped was just a short visit. There were only minimal protests from the various agents trying to corral him back to Stark Tower, where they could keep an eye on the ‘ticking time bomb’. Bruce was slightly surprised at the low amount of resistance, but he decided not to say anything about it. All the better for him.

His arrival was timely, too. Since SHIELD was a government organization, they had the ability to quickly and efficiently arrange for any kind of air travel, unlike even Tony’s private jets, which were made to wait at busier airports and landing strips until his identity was confirmed and there was an appropriately long break in air traffic. The downside to his fast arrival was that they landed in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the Twin Cities area, instead of the closest large town to Amity Park, which meant a three-hour drive.

Sitting in the back of a well-protected SUV, Bruce sighed quietly. It would be a while.

 

* * *

 

“So...” Tony trailed off, glancing around at the, admittedly large, town they’d just arrived in. It wasn’t a big city, by far, but it definitely surpassed those 3,000-person rural towns dotted all over the countryside along highways and wall-known landmarks.

Steve offered, “I can go on a run around town, if you want. See what I can find, if there’s anything unusual going on, that sort of thing.” His signature shield was strapped to his back, against the brown, worn leather jacket he wore. None of them had deemed it necessary to get completely suited up for the trip, though Tony brought his with him, like always.

Clint checked all of his weapons, glanced around, and shrugged. “That’s about as good an idea as any, I guess. ‘S not like we really know what we’re looking for, is it?”

“The Fentons’ house is apparently  _ incredibly _ hard to miss. Like, impossible. Didn’t Danny mention a giant, decked-out observatory on the roof?” Tony said, adding his two cents. “I’m pretty sure any of the locals could give us directions, too. After all, they’re ghost hunters in a town filled with ghosts and ghost  _ fights _ . Right?”

“Hm.” Steve just glanced around the area they were parked.

“Oh, and does anyone else find it ironic that the sign to welcome people says ‘a nice place to live’? Because I do.” He gestured to the various buildings with signs of recent rebuilding or current construction. 

“Shut up, Tony,” Clint and Steve ordered in unison, still examining their surroundings.

The genius went silent, back to pouting and sulking. A few people walking by didn’t even spare them a second glance once they were dismissed as ‘not a threat’. Clint was used to that expression, and he recognized it immediately. It made a strange kind of sense, given where they were at present. What  _ was _ unusual to them was being completely ignored past a first glance. It may have had something to do with the town’s abnormality again, though. They all silently resolved to keep their minds open as they explored.

A blonde teenager in a red letter jacket walked by, and actually paused for a moment as he noticed the trio of heroes. The kid looked to be about Danny’s age, and seemed an average enough jock-type that Steve felt comfortable asking for directions.

“Excuse me, but we’re visiting from New York, would you mind giving us directions?” he called out, jogging up to the slowly strolling teenager. The super soldier saw a flash of recognition pass through the boy’s eyes, and waited patiently for a response.

The blonde teen gazed at Steve for a few moments, and then glanced over Steve’s shoulder at the other two men. His eyes narrowed and his stance shifted slightly into something defensive. It made the captain slightly worried. 

“Maybe. What are you here for?” the boy replied, asking his own question. 

Steve smiled amiably to relax the younger blonde man, and answered easily, “We’re a bit curious about the ghost activity in town. We were hoping to look around for a bit, and one of my companions knows the Fentons through Mr. Masters. I understand Mr. Masters was the mayor until recently?”

The jock paused for a moment, slightly more suspicious. “Yeah, he was. You’re not here to mess with anybody, right? ‘Cause we won’t be happy if you pick on Phantom, got it? Not that any of you guys are a match for him! Even the new group the Guys In White hired can barely get a hit in, and  _ they _ have ghost-fighting weapons.”

Steve blinked in surprise, and took a step back at the fierce tone the boy used. “No, no, we didn’t want to do anything to Phantom. Except maybe talk to him. I was told he has... a pretty high approval rating... right? Was that it?”

“Yeah! He’s the best!” the boy gushed, expression lighting up. “Even the Red Huntress got over her grudge, or whatever! She used to hate him like crazy, or something, but now they team up whenever they happen across each other.”

Tony, who’d strolled over while they were talking, overheard the last bit. “So, there’s a lot of ghost hunters in town?” he asked curiously. “The ‘Red Huntress’ sounds pretty cool. Makes me wonder about Phantom’s name, honestly. Couldn’t he come up with something better?”

“That coming from the tin can,” Clint snorted, chuckling. “What’s up, kid?”

The blonde teen blinked, and then took on an offended look. “Hey! Phantom’s name is fine! It’s a lot better than what we called him at first, anyway. Before people realized he was good and trying to protect us, we called him ‘Inviso-bill’. How lame, am I right? Well, he had a chance to tell us his full name a couple years ago. Danny Phantom, resident superhero!”

“...  _ Danny _ Phantom?” Steve stated slowly, eyes wide.

The teen shrugged at the unspoken question. “I know it’s pretty average sounding, but it’s his name, so whatever. He’s so cool! Nothing like that Fen _ turd _ , anyway,” he sneered, laughing a bit mockingly.

The trio exchanged a glance, and Steve said, “It was nice to meet you, Mr...”

“Oh! Baxter. I’m Dash Baxter,” the blonde boy, Dash, provided. 

“Nice to meet you, then, Mr. Baxter. Thanks for explaining a bit about... Phantom. Do you know where we could find the Fentons’ house? Mr. Masters suggested we go look around there for a bit, talk to the local experts.” Steve grinned, extending a hand. 

Dash blinked for a second, shaking hands, and frowned. “Well, if you look over  _ there _ ,” he began, pointing over the top of the buildings, “you’ll see their  _ observatory _ . Did you know that it could turn into a blimp? The Fentons are all crazy, take it from me. Even Jasmine, but she’s also the smartest, coolest, most sensible one. Well, they do know their stuff about ghosts, I guess. Just head south a bit, and then go east a little. It’s  _ really _ hard to miss.”

“Thanks, Mr. Baxter. We’ll probably see you around, then, if we decide to stay for a few days. Your help was greatly appreciated.” Steve nodded to the boy.

“No problem, Captain... uh, Rogers,” he replied. “You can call me Dash, too. Mr. Baxter is for older people! I’m still in high school.”

“Alright, Dash then. See you around,” Steve complied, waving as they walked towards the rental car. Which, in all honestly, was  _ way _ too luxurious to be a rental, but it was Tony Stark’s ride, and Tony could pay for it if he wanted. Which he did.

The trio of Avengers made their way towards the area Dash had indicated, hoping that Danny was at least  _ home _ to talk to them.


	19. FentonWorks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Well. I probably didn’t do a great job of describing the sequence of events for the past two chapters, so I’ll explain a bit.  
> Early Afternoon  
> Danny leaves NYC --- Tony, Steve, & Clint decide to “visit” Amity Park --- Danny arrives at home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Well. I probably didn’t do a great job of describing the sequence of events for the past two chapters, so I’ll explain a bit.  
> Early Afternoon  
> Danny leaves NYC --- Tony, Steve, & Clint decide to “visit” Amity Park --- Danny arrives at home   
> Late Afternoon - Evening  
> Tony manages to arrange a landing time --- Bruce gets Tony’s message --- Danny & co. in GZ   
> Next Morning  
> Tony, Steve, & Clint arrive in Amity Park --- Bruce gets on a flight to MN --- Steve talks to Dash
> 
> Well, that should clear up some confusion, hopefully. The times are a little more spread out than I made it seem. Please enjoy the new chapter. ^u^

Pepper was mildly startled, when she was collecting some things from the tower, to run into a large, red, swath of cape. Stumbling back a few steps, she gathered herself and smiled as the very tall Asgardian turned to her in surprise. They weren’t expecting Thor for another week at the earliest, so his presence was understandably shocking.

“Ah! Lady Pepper, it is a joyous day!” Thor greeted cheerfully, grinning. “My arrival on Midgard has been pushed forward, as you can most probably see. Pray, tell, where are the others at this time? I wish to greet them as soon as possible.”

Pepper smiled back at the god. She’d always found his manner of speech interesting, and appreciated the man’s politeness to anyone not his enemy. “I’m afraid Tony and the others aren’t here right now. He, Steve, and Clint went to Amity Park, Minnesota, to visit a new friend of theirs after he had to leave New York early. Bruce is currently working on a project for SHIELD, and I’m not sure where Natasha is right now; she was given a few days off.”

He considered the information with a thoughtful frown. Slowly, he asked, “Where might their new friend reside? Amity Park, you say?” The name sounded familiar to him, and he tried to remember where he’d heard it before. It lay just beyond his reach, he was sure.

“Well, Amity Park is in Minnesota. That’s one of the states in this country, west and a little bit north of here. If you’d like, I can show you on a map. You’re planning on going there, right?” she answered, pulling up a hologram map of the United States. “They’re going to see Danny Fenton, a teenager Tony met a few days ago. There’s something going on with the kid, and we’re all a little worried about him.”

Thor blinked at the name. That, he  _ did _ recognize. “Daniel Fenton? They are venturing out to speak with  _ Daniel Fenton _ ?” he asked in astonishment and shock. Thor was almost  _ sure _ the Midgardians weren’t aware of the half-draugr nature of the young hero.

Pepper blinked a couple times, caught off guard. “Um, yeah... Tony met him at the Stark Expo, and they became friends over the last... five days, I think. Why? Do you know him or something?”

The blonde man just shook his head slightly. “Not personally, no, I have never met the young man. I  _ would _ be glad to make his acquaintance, though. You meant to show me where Amity Park, Minnesota, was?”

“Oh, sorry. Yes, it’s right...  _ there _ ,” she said, focusing on the map and pointing to a small dot in the southwestern corner of the state. After Thor nodded with a slight smile, she closed the map and turned to face him again.

“I thank you for this service, Lady Pepper. I will take my leave, now,” he stated, nodding respectfully to the woman. “I will greet them for you when I arrive. Fare thee well!” Jogging up the stairs to the balcony, he swung his hammer and took off. Pepper watched from the common area with a slightly worried frown.

It was unusual for Thor to have heard of any human he didn’t have prior contact with, or at least, remember them in that case. She’d have to warn Tony that the god was on his way over there. The genius would probably like some warning.

 

* * *

 

Thirteen hours after launching the attack, Danny and his group were finally done cleaning everything up in the overtaken territories. Encased in a large shard of ice stood the ghost behind the whole mess, and Danny only had to wait for everyone to regroup before taking her to the Observants for safekeeping. Dan was casually floating around the base, shooting all the already defeated minions with minuscule ectoblasts for fun, the sadist.

The ghost encased in Danny’s ice was fairly average for a ghost, and not menacing in appearance at all. Even Kitty looked scarier than the ghost did. Her skin was a pale blue and she had hair made of water, unlike Dan’s fiery hair. Her powers were annoying at best to Danny, but the halfa could see how she’d be able to defeat someone like Dan, or Dani. In fighting experience and skill, the ghost seemed to be above average, and her abilities naturally countered Dan’s heat core easily. The fight had been long because Danny tried to avoid being injured, but not particularly hard.

_ “Hey, Danny.” _ Tucker’s voice echoed from the Fenton Phone he had in his left ear. Some time during the fight, he’d lost the right one.  _ “Do you need the Speeder to transport the witch?” _

They’d called her that as a joke, but the title ‘water witch’ stuck. “No, I’m fine. If you two want to go hang out in the house for a bit while we wrap up, that’s fine with me. Just stick around for a little while, I might need some help with a gash on my back later.”

_ “Sure thing, ghost boy. See you at home,” _ Sam replied, and the connection shut off. 

Since the Phones were unneeded, Danny took off his remaining one and tucked it in the pouch attached to his belt. That was one of the few costume updates he’d made over the years, more for practical purposes than appearance. For the most part, his original black and white HAZMAT suit worked wonders for day-to-day wear and tear. All he’d added were a few pouches on his belt, one strapped to his right thigh, and increased the durability of his gloves and boots. The added padding on the back and chest wasn’t really visible, anyway.

“Hey, Dan!” he shouted, grabbing the older ghost’s attention. “I’m gonna take her to the old stopwatch, wanna come?” 

Dan considered it for a moment, and shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I think those small fry will back off without their leader, anyway. Or at least, the will if they know what’s good for them,” he replied, adding the last comment in a dark tone.

Together, they set off for Clockwork’s lair. It would be a quick stop to say hello and drop of the ghost-sicle and they’d be home in no time. 

 

* * *

 

Back at the Fentons’ house, the trio of Avengers had just arrived. Tony was the one who strode confidently up to the front door and knocked loudly, waiting a minute for a response. After getting none, he rang the doorbell and listened. Steve and Clint stood casually behind him, more relaxed now that they had found Danny’s house among all the other apartment buildings and single-family homes.

Footsteps echoed from inside, the sound of heavy boots on wood, and the bolt locking the door slid open. Revealed to them was a teenage girl dressed in gothic clothes with purple lipstick and black hair. She glanced between the three men and stood with one hand on her hip, staring at them with challenge burning in her eyes.

“Yeah? What do you three want? The Fentons are on a trip to New York.” 

Tony blinked, placing the voice and face finally. “Oh, we know the Fenton couple is in New York. You’re the Mansons’ daughter, aren’t you? Are you a friend of Danny’s, then? He had to leave early, and we got kinda worried about him. Is he here? Can we come in?”

She snorted, and smirked. “Tony Stark, can’t say it’s a pleasure to see you again. You’re as annoying as the last time I met you. Yeah, I’m Sam Manson. Danny’s busy right now, you can come back later, or something.”

When Tony opened his mouth to protest, Steve carefully stepped between the two. “I’m sorry, but we’d really like to see him as soon as we can. Is it possible for us to wait in the living room? We won’t wander around, I promise.”

She searched his expression, and then scrutinized him from head to toe. Taking a deep breath and muttering quietly to herself, she stepped back into the house. “Fine. I’m sure I can trust you to keep your agent and genius on a leash, Captain Rogers?”

“Of course, Ms. Manson. How long do you think it’ll be before Danny can see us?” he replied, voice soothing.

“Hm... I’d say an hour or so. I’ll let him know you guys are here,” she answered. Walking back through the kitchen, she shouted down the stairs marked ‘LAB’, “HEY, TUCKER! You wanted a chance to talk to Stark, didn’t you?! Well, he’s here! Get your ass upstairs!”

There was a loud  _ clang _ and the sound of metal things falling over, causing Tony to wince in sympathy. A loud exclamation the three men couldn’t make out was Tucker’s reply, and soon a geeky-looking teen with dreads and a red beret poked his head out the doorway at the top of the stairs. He had black-framed glasses and a PDA in one hand. 

He looked  _ exactly _ like the type Tony would get along with.

Speaking of, the resident billionaire practically  _ skipped _ over to the kitchen before Steve grabbed hold of his shirt and tugged him back. “Hey, are you the kid that hacked into my systems the other day?”

Tucker paled slightly and took a step back. Tony threw his hands up in a peaceful gesture and hastily explained, “Nononono, I’m not  _ mad _ at you, I’m excited. I haven’t met someone as good as you at hacking outside of SHIELD in a long time! You’re awesome, kid!”

“R-Really?” the teen stuttered, shocked. 

“Hell yeah! Listen, I’m kinda curious to see what you can do, and if you’ve got a good estimation of Danny’s engineering skills. Wanna come play with my new tablet?” Tony admitted, grinning hugely, offering up the mentioned device. It worked like a charm, and Tucker nearly  _ floated _ over to Tony, eyes focused avidly on the sleek, black screen.

Sam rolled her eyes and announced, “I’m going to go down and make sure Tucker didn’t break anything important, alright? Be back in a minute.” She disappeared down into the lab and shut the door behind her, ensuring privacy.

Tony was occupied with Tucker and the tablet in his hands, so Steve and Clint turned to face each other. “So... do  _ you _ find it weird that one of Danny’s friends is a genius and the other is filthy rich?” Clint asked sarcastically. “Not to mention we haven’t heard one  _ peep _ from wherever Danny’s hiding. Is he even in the house?”

Steve shrugged before Tucker stated, “Oh, Danny’s here. He’ll be out in a little while, for sure. He’s just got a couple things to take care of, y’know? Sam probably told you it’d be around an hour, right?”

“Yeah,” Clint confirmed.

“She’s usually right when it comes to him. Give it a bit, he’ll be here.” With that, the teen’s focus returned entirely to the tablet he’d been given, and the others settled in to wait. Steve was very patient, and Clint had experience sitting in one spot for hours, watching and waiting for his target to appear. Nothing new for either of them.

 

* * *

 

Sam took a deep, shaky breath when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Thankfully, she’d either be able to warn Danny ahead of time, or wait for him to appear from the portal on his own, if he’d taken his Fenton Phones out. The arrival of half the Avengers was an unexpected kink in their daily activities of ghost fighting, training, and hanging out. Their mid-morning arrival was a blessing, too. If the three supers had come any earlier, Sam and Tucker would’ve still been in the Ghost Zone and unable to run interference. 

Picking up her own Fenton Phones from the table she left them on earlier, she switched them on and flicked through the channels. There was no response from any of them, and Sam cursed quietly under her breath. Of course Danny had them out. Their collective luck was always utter crap, through and through.

Well, the only thing she could do now was wait for him. Sam sighed and plopped herself down in the swivel chair in front of the main computer and typed in the password to Danny’s account. Taking care of the new file they’d have to make for the water-witch would be one way to pass the time, and none of them would have to do it later. She settled in and started typing. 

It’d be an interesting addition to the file of ‘Enemies’ they kept stocked for occasional cross-referencing. She would easily be viewed as a major threat, if it wasn’t for the fact that Phantom’s ice core easily countered their newest enemy’s water abilities. Once Dan got a better handle on Phantom’s ice core and Dani racked up enough fighting experience, the ghost could be added to the ‘Minor Nuisance’ category.

Sam silently wished that Danny would hurry up and get back as soon as possible. There was only so long they could delay the trio of Avengers.


	20. Welcome to Amity Park

Danny patted off the flakes and shards of ice that covered his suit after setting down the temporary prison in Clockwork’s lair. Beside him, Dan was making faces at the frozen ghost and just generally making a nuisance of himself. The halfa rolled his eyes and waited patiently for the Master of Time to give them the go-ahead to make their way back home.

“Nice job, Daniel,” Clockwork complemented, smiling mysteriously. “I assume she wasn’t too much of a problem? It looks like you have a nasty gash on your back.”

Snorting, Danny shook his head. “Like you don’t already know, you old stopwatch.”

Clockwork sighed wistfully. “Humor an old ghost, won’t you? You and Dan are free to go back to Amity Park for now, just be cautious around the new arrivals. They don’t mean any harm to you or your friends and allies.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” Danny drawled sarcastically, getting Dan’s attention.

“Oi, Clockwork, what about...?” he trailed off, raising his eyebrows.

The old ghost shook his head, and replied, “It’s not time. Daniel, please make sure to return here on your Deathday, after whatever event the other ghosts are planning. We have some things to discuss then, but for now, you have a few guests waiting.”

Glancing curiously at the blue-skinned ghost, Danny nodded. “See you later, then.”

Dan nodded once to Clockwork, after Danny had taken off, and followed. He had an idea about what the Master of Time wanted to tell his younger self, but it was nothing concrete. Best not to mention it at all. Clockwork  _ had _ said that they had guests, after all.

 

* * *

 

When the portal door slid open to reveal a slightly scuffed up and annoyed Danny, followed closely by the hulking form of Dan with a manic grin on his face, Sam let out a heavy sigh. No matter what was going on, the older ghost would do everything he could to get on his younger self’s nerves. Sometimes, she pitied Danny.

“Yo, ghost boy, remember your friends from New York?” Sam called, closing up the open files she’d been organizing and editing. She got a short grunt she took as confirmation, and snickers from Dan. “Well, they’re here. As in, sitting in the living room. Right now.”

Sam turned around just in time to see Danny faceplant, shifting straight back to human form mid-hover. The halfa groaned quietly, face pressed into the metal flooring, and seemingly melted into the ground. Blood spots appeared slowly on the lower back of his white t-shirt, and the black-haired girl picked herself up to tend to him.

“Hey, Dan, can you go up and stall for a bit? This is gonna take a minute,” she asked absently, examining the wound. “Just phase upstairs and walk down from there. It’ll be ten, maybe eleven, minutes.”

The full ghost glanced at Danny’s injury and shrugged. “Sure thing, Sammy. See you in a bit,” he answered easily. After he disappeared, Sam turned to grab the rubbing alcohol, needle, and thread. This would be one of many that needed stitches, even with his fast healing.

 

* * *

 

The stairs leading to the second floor creaked, and Tucker’s head snapped up. Dan was making his way down, in his human guise, to the living room. The techno-geek silently sighed in relief as he watched, glad that Danny’s “cousin” finally appeared. 

The Avengers in the room were only slightly surprised at Dan’s appearance. Tony just passed it off as normal, what with Dan and Danny being cousins for all they knew, and Steve was being as polite as ever and reserving judgement. Clint, on the other hand, watched in wary silence as the other man approached them. He had his reservations about Dan. The way the man looked, the way he stood, it unsettled the archer-slash-spy. 

“Yo, Dan! Is Danny gonna be down, soon?” Tucker called out in question.

The ghost grinned at the others, exposing unusually sharp canines. “Yeah, give it ten minutes or so. He’s just  _ wrapping up _ , so to speak.” He turned to face the trio of men. “You guys decided to drop by, then. Welcome to Amity Park, a haunted place to live! Don’t forget to catch at least  _ one _ ghost fight while you’re here.”

Tucker quickly clued in to what Dan was hinting at with the stressed phrasing, and mentally groaned. So, his best friend once again had an injury that required more than just a quick patch-up job. Not a huge surprise, but not what he’d hoped, either.

Tony laughed at Dan’s...  _ unique _ welcome to the town. Grinning, he commented, “I hope I’ll be able to see one. It sounds really cool. Seriously. Like, where else can you watch  _ ghosts _ duke it out? In broad daylight, no less? Awesome. Totally epic, really. Got any tips for where they’re likely to happen?”

Dan snorted. “Pretty much the entire town, depending on who’s attacking. You  _ will _ tend to have better luck around the high school, the Nasty Burger, the mall, and... well, FentonWorks, to be honest. We’re the ones with the portal, after all. But it’s a toss-up whether they’ll happen here or somewhere completely random. Like I said; the whole town is a hot spot.”

Tucker let out a short, harsh laugh. “Really, Dan? Just... really?”

“Oh? You got a better idea, technophile?” Dan smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning casually against the banister. While the dark-skinned teen glared, Tony burst out into poorly contained chuckles. 

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Tucker put the tablet on the coffee table and pulled out his faithful PDA. “It’s just you and me, Tiffany, just you and me. Those guys wouldn’t recognize quality tech if it hit them in the face.”

“Not that that hasn’t happened before,” Dan threw in. 

“Oh, no! Not again, we are  _ not _ bringing up Technus! That  _ jerk _ messed with my baby! I swear to the Ancients, if you let him get  _ anywhere near me, I’ll– _ ”

“Alright, keep your shirt on, Tucker, we’ve got an agreement, remember?” Dan shouted, cutting the geeky teen’s rant off before it really began. They  _ did _ actually have an agreement with Technus concerning Tucker’s stuff. And in reality, the relationship between most of the more common ghostly assailants to visit Amity Park had improved greatly. Technus, Skulker, Ember, Johnny 13, and even  _ Spectra _ were all generally neutral at worst and good friends at best. That is, when they weren’t actively attacking, of course.

Tucker’s grumbling was met with more chuckles, this time from the whole room. Tony asked curiously, “Who’s Technus? Why does Tucker hate him so much?” Steve and Clint nodded, hoping for more information to ease their curiosity. 

A quick shrug and a passcode typed in on the PDA, and Tucker had pulled up the most recent photograph he’d gotten of the technology-based ghost. “Technus was one of the first ghosts to show up in Amity Park after the portal was finished,” he explained. “His attacks are generally pretty predictable, especially since he has a bad habit of monologuing about whatever evil plan he’s going with at the time. We called him ‘Technus of the Long-Winded Introductions’ for a while, until he started making an effort to fix his habit.”

“Really.” Steve deadpanned, flat expression on his face. A villain that told their entire plan to their enemies right at the get-go? They wouldn’t last very long in New York City.

“Really. Tucker’s not exaggerating,” Dan confirmed. “Technus uses anything that runs on electricity to attack with. He can enter computers and control them remotely, cause movie players to shoot discs at you, wrap you up in cords and wire, that sort of thing. Usually, he makes an artificial body or armor of some kind out of whatever tech is available. Think of it as a very specific form of telekinesis.”

Clint looked mildly surprised at the explanation. “Huh. And I take it all ghosts have some kind of power unique to them?”

“Not  _ totally _ unique. There’s a realm in the Ghost Zone, called the Far Frozen, and all of the inhabitants are yeti. They can all use ice-based attacks, because of their core type,” Tucker countered, holding up his index finger to silence the others. “Ghosts generally have abilities that relate to whatever their obsession is, or whatever they were like in life.”

“Mm, take Phantom, for instance,” Dan began, rolling his shoulders. “He has an ice core, so you would think that he’d mainly use ice-based attacks, right?” The others nodded, and Dan continued his explanation. “Right. That’s not the case, though. While his core is an ice core, he uses general, ectoplasm-based attacks about eighty to ninety percent of the time. Most often, he doesn’t even bother with special abilities.”

Clint raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “And you know so much about Phantom... why?”

Dan laughed harshly, glaring. “Anyone who lives in this town could tell you how he normally attacks. I’m affiliated with the Fentons, who study and hunt  _ ghosts _ for a  _ living _ . They have a fucking Ghost Portal in their basement. Why  _ wouldn’t _ I know so much about Phantom? Tucker, Sam, and Danny all know as much as I do.”

“Dan, you wanna go back upstairs? You should cool off a bit,” Tucker commented, seeing the slight reddish tinge to the man’s eyes. While Dan’s glare snapped to him in an instant, the teen didn’t flinch, and held his gaze evenly until the ghost looked away.

“Danny should be down about now, anyway. Talk to you idiots later,” he drawled, turning his back on them before giving a short wave and strolling up the stairs. The four people in the living room watched him go in silence, and Tucker sighed to himself. It was slow progress, but it was progress in the right direction. He was proud of the ghost for having come so far in slightly over half a year.

 

* * *

 

“Yo, dickhead, your friends are pissing me off,” Dan snapped as he phased through the ceiling of the basement. He saw Sam wiping off her hands and noticed that his younger self was completely bandaged up with fresh gauze over the newest wound. 

Danny rolled his eyes and glanced up at the ghost. “Yeah? So what?”

“Go show them around, or something. I don’t know, just get rid of them. Birdy seems very suspicious of me, the iron trash can has pretty much bored himself to tears, and Mr. American Dream looks mentally exhausted from dealing with those two plus Tucker.”

“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?” Sam asked sarcastically.

Dan silently snarled at her, and Danny put a hand up to stop the argument ahead of time. He grabbed one of the sweatshirts he had tucked away for incidents where he bled through his normal clothes, or when he needed to cover a big injury, when he got back from the Ghost Zone and its dangers. It was one of his older, oversized ones, dark blue and soft to the touch.

“Dan, you’re free to do whatever, as long as you behave yourself in the human world. Go nuts in the Ghost Zone, for all I care, but don’t make a mess I’ll have to clean up later over here, got it?” Danny stated calmly, letting out a tired sigh.

“Yeah, whatever, mini-me. I’m gonna go piss off Clockwork.”

“You mean  _ try _ to piss off Clockwork. You never succeed,” Danny laughed back.

The grumpy ghost sneered and flew through the portal, Sam having opened it for him. It was probably the best thing Dan could do when his temper was riled up and he was in a bad mood. It saved the reformed man from having a major setback and... well, murdering everyone in the vicinity. Danny was relieved that they got along fairly well, overall.

Taking a deep breath, the halfa nodded slightly to Sam, and shifted back to ghost form. He’d have to ‘go downstairs’ because of Sam and Tucker’s hints of where he was. As he mentally prepared himself for the confrontation there’d inevitably be with the trio of Avengers, he sighed heavily. Everything was happening so quickly, these days.

 

* * *

 

Bruce had finally reached Amity Park, and he laughed quietly as they passed the sign welcoming people to the town. It looked quiet and relaxed, and Bruce was sure it would’ve been one of those places where nothing really happened, if it weren’t for the ghosts and the Fentons current residence. 

He smiled and nodded politely at the agent who’d driven him there, thanking the man for going out of his way to provide transportation. The SHIELD agent had dropped him off at the impossible-to-miss building labeled ‘FentonWorks’. Bruce had to admit, it was pretty impressive, in a slightly horrifying way. He just hoped the others had gotten there, too. It’d be kind of embarrassing if the scientist got there first.

Walking calmly up to the door, Bruce hesitated for a moment, and then gathered his wits and knocked. He had gotten along well with Danny, the teenager probably wouldn’t mind him as a guest, even without warning. Bruce took a calming breath and stepped back to wait.


	21. The Reason and a Tour

Danny stepped heavily down the stairs, feet thudding on the creaky wooden steps. The four people in the living room all watched his descent, and Tucker breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that his best friend wasn’t moving stiffly or wincing occasionally. He knew Danny was injured, but the halfa must’ve taken some kind of painkillers. It sucked that they wouldn’t last very long, because of the teen’s super-fast metabolism.

“Danny!” Tony cheered, jumping to his feet when the halfa stepped onto the ground floor, and surged forward only to be wrenched back by Steve’s grip on his bicep. “Hey, lemme go, Capsicle! I wanna hug the kiddo!”

Danny rolled his eyes and strolled over to flop down on the now-unoccupied couch. “So, what’s up? Last I saw you, we were in New York.” He watched them with an intense stare, pinning the trio in place. Steve had the decency to blush and mumble an apology, while Clint looked everywhere but the teen’s eyes, and Tony just shrugged it off.

“We wanted to hang out more, and we were worried. Besides, it’s gotta be cool to watch a ghost fight, right? Why  _ wouldn’t _ we come here? It would be a great experience, don’t you think? I think it would, at least. Right, Cap? Legolas?” Tony babbled. 

Clint snorted, and confirmed, “Right, Tin Can. Sorry, Danny, we didn’t mean to intrude, but Tony wasn’t lying about being worried. You took off in a hurry, and after what we learned about the dangers in the area, we wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen.”

“Besides, this way I can collect  _ evidence _ that the G.I.W. are corrupt and evil individuals who deserve to be shoved into the lowest pits of hell! You can’t really do that from New York, in my opinion. See? We have valid reasons!” Tony added, pouting slightly. 

“Why couldn’t we just  _ call _ him?” Steve muttered to himself. Louder, he said, “I’m really sorry about this, Danny. I figured it’d be best to go along, if those two were going. And you know how it is, once Tony gets an idea...”

“He has to follow through with it. I get it,” Danny finished, ruffling his hair. “Still, you coulda called, first. It would’ve saved me a bit of trouble. I only have one guest room, and there aren’t a lot of hotels in town.”

Tucker patted his friend on the shoulder. “Well, look at the bright side, dude. We have half the Avengers in your living room  _ right now _ . Think of what this will do for your popularity at school!”

Danny just groaned. “Tucker, we’ve been through that before. Remember last time?”

“... oh, yeah.” The techno-geek laughed sheepishly. “Kinda forgot about that. The A-Listers are really big assholes, aren’t they? I can’t believe they got you to put on a  _ letter jacket _ . That was wrong on  _ so _ many levels.”

Bruce chuckled. “High school popularity?”

“Ouch, not really my thing,” Tony commented. “I didn’t really  _ do _ the whole high school thing. Still don’t want to. Graduated MIT at fifteen, that’s plenty for me. School was... mm, boring. They didn’t move even  _ half _ as fast as I wanted to go.”

“Yeah... so, you showed up because you were worried about me.” 

The three men exchanged slightly uncomfortable looks, and nodded. Looking back on it now, it was kind of unreasonable, but they had just gotten attached to Danny when the teen had to go back home. He was a mystery to them in more ways than one, and the town he lived in was constantly under threat from one group or another. At least it had made sense to them at the time of the decision.

“Alright. You’re here, now, might as well make the most of it. Want a tour around town?” Danny sighed in resignation, glancing tiredly at each of the Avengers in turn. Tony noticed that the teen was suffering from a lack of sleep, more from experience than actual ability to read the teen’s body language. He wondered about that.

Just before they could answer, a knock came from the door. Danny blinked for a minute in surprise, before hopping to his feet to answer it. Tucker just watched the whole conversation as an outsider silently. He hadn’t really gotten to know the other heroes from just an hour of sitting around and waiting. 

Danny opened the front door to reveal a tired-looking Bruce, and started laughing. Waving the physicist inside, he stumbled back to the couch, collapsing on it in peals of joyful laughter. It wasn’t every day that  _ four _ famous people showed up at your house, and honestly, it seemed pretty ridiculous to the teenager. He’d always been known as the “loser” of Casper High.

Bruce chuckled as he caught sight of the others. “Nice to see you, again,” he greeted, a small smile playing on his face. “Obviously, I got your message. Anyone want to tell me what this is all about?”

Danny, amidst laughter, answered, “These... these three, they... th-they came because they were... worried about m-me! I had to... to leave early, so, so they decided to... drop by!” 

Steve sighed, and cast an apologetic glance to both Bruce and Tucker. “I hope neither of you had anything important to do. With Tony here, he’ll inevitably drag the rest of us on some strange adventure.”

Tucker snorted. “Strange adventures are the norm around here. Don’t worry, I’m used to it. Comes with having Danny as a friend, what with the ghost-hunting parents who are slightly insane and/or really dense.”

Bruce nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I wasn’t really doing anything important. In fact, I had just about finished wrapping up when I got your message.”

“That’s good,” Steve sighed in relief. 

Danny finally stopped laughing, taking a moment to catch his breath. “So... so, do you guys want to... go on a tour around Amity Park? My treat,” he offered with a breathless grin. His eyes glinted in mischief, and his exhaustion was well hidden beneath excitement. He smoothed his sweatshirt back in place and waited for an answer.

Tony grinned right back, excited. “Of course! Maybe you can give us a bit of history while we’re out! I’ve heard this place has gone through three major invasions in as many years. It’d be awesome to hear about them.”

Danny laughed, and waved them over to the door. “Tucker, can you tell Sam we’re going to the Nasty Burger first? It’s the closest landmark I can think of,” he called, smiling apologetically at his best friend.

Tucker replied, “Sure dude, just stick around ‘til we catch up, okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. We’ll get lunch. See you in a bit,” Danny agreed easily, slipping on his shoes. The group of men followed easily, glancing up at the intimidating structure on top of the roof. “That’s the observatory. Don’t ask, ‘cause I don’t know. Only my parents know why they built it, and how it doesn’t completely violate every single building code in existence.”

Bruce chuckled. “Your parents certainly are unique,” he commented, studying the huge structure. It had all sorts of viewing windows, different pieces of scrap metal welded together, a giant, crooked telescope placed lopsidedly on top, and generally looked like a mess. He could see the others shared his interest in the thing.

Tony just looked horrified and hesitantly curious. The thing was clearly a monstrosity, but if it was still staying on the roof after three years of ghost fights without so much as a bent support beam, he had to admit he was pretty impressed. Oh, there was no question it looked like a six-year-old’s drawing of a spaceship, but it was sturdy.

Leading on, Danny gestured to different cracks in the sidewalk, places where the bricks were chipped or charred on buildings, and other subtle signs that ghost fights had taken place. At one point on their walk to the Nasty Burger, a random teenager had raced past them on a bike, followed by another two teenagers on rollerblades, being pulled along by their dogs. 

“Heh, that?” Danny muttered sheepishly when questioned on it. “Well, the kids here have kinda become adrenaline junkies. Since the local high school is such a common target for ghost attacks, pretty much every kid over the age of thirteen has been involved in a fight at  _ some _ point in the school year. Some of them have been thrown out third-floor windows, chucked into lakes from a quarter-mile away, that kind of thing. Nothing phases them, anymore.”

“Wow. So, living here has basically  _ destroyed _ their sense of self-preservation?” Clint asked, astonished. 

The raven-haired teen shook his head, grimacing. “Not entirely, no. They’ll still put an effort into  _ surviving _ , but nearly being hit with stray shots, getting burned or even thrown into a wall, those kinds of injuries don’t really bother them. It’s normal, for this place. Funny as hell when the teachers freak out, though. I swear, just last week, I saw someone biking on the roofs to avoid traffic.”

“That’s insane,” Steve muttered. “They’re going to break their necks, someday.”

“Eh, you get used to it,” Danny argued, shrugging. 

It was actually a good thing for Danny that the other teens were more adventurous and threw caution to the wind. He wasn’t the only one showing up in school with random, almost inexplicable injuries. At least, not anymore. Over the past year and a half, the teenage population of Amity Park had gradually grown more and more free-spirited. With the constant ghost attacks, minor scrapes and burns really  _ didn’t _ bother them. Nowadays, Danny only had to hide the worst of the worst injuries and wounds from the general population.

“So, what’s the story behind the whole ‘ghosts’ thing, anyway? Your parents built a portal to some kind of alternate dimension, like you explained before, but what else? Like, what about that vigilante hero ghost, Phantom?” Tony asked. 

“Well, no one  _ really _ knows where Phantom came from. Like the other ghosts, he showed up when the portal was successfully turned on,” Danny answered slowly. “I’m not completely sure why my parents were so obsessed with ghosts before now. Apparently, it runs in the family on my dad’s side, but I never found out why my mom was so interested in them.”

Bruce commented, “Yeah, I didn’t really understand, either, when I talked to your parents.”

Danny gave a short nod of acknowledgement. “See? It’s just weird.”

“Alright, so tell us more about the ghosts, or that alternate dimension,” Steve prompted.

“Fine.” Danny ruffled his hair, stalling for time to think. “I guess... well, you’ll see some ghosts later, so I’ll explain what I know about the Ghost Zone. The first, most basic thing  _ anyone _ might need to know about the Ghost Zone is that it’s an alternate dimension running parallel to our own. It’s so closely entwined with our dimension that, if you were to destroy it, this dimension would be destroyed along with it. Scary thought, huh? The G.I.W. tried to destroy the ‘Zone once. Phantom and the other ghosts saved it.”

Tony and Bruce looked kind of like Christmas had come way early, and both Steve and Clint were looking a little pale. It was clear why, though, seeing as the former two were scientists and geniuses and the latter two were  _ not _ . Danny chuckled at their expressions.

“Yeah, I was kinda freaked out when I first heard it, too,” he admitted humorously. “Still, the Ghost Zone is an amazing place, with some pretty cool quirks, too.”

“Like what?” Bruce asked. His curiosity was peaked, not even the Fenton parents had gone this in-depth during their brief discussion. A stable alternate dimension that didn’t take an energy source like the Tesseract to get to was incredibly interesting to him.

Danny smirked at the group over his shoulder, glancing back at them briefly. “Oh, you know, just... the laws of physics don’t necessarily apply, the sky is swirling shades of green ectoplasm, there are floating doors and islands all over, humans can phase through things there. The usual.”

Tony snorted once the teen finished. “The  _ usual? _ Danny, if that’s your  _ usual _ , then no wonder you fit in so well with us. The laws of physics  _ don’t necessarily apply? _ What the hell do you mean by that? And do you have any idea why?”

The blue-eyed teen just shrugged. “Not sure why. It might have to do with practically the entire place being made of ectoplasm, though. And I mean that there are certain places where there’s less or no gravity, things fall  _ up _ , water boils at below freezing temperatures and freezes at boiling temperatures, that kinda thing. Oh, and there are pocket dimensions. Everywhere.”

“... pocket dimensions. In a parallel dimension.” Clint rubbed his forehead. He could feel a headache coming on.

Again, Danny just shrugged. “You’d have to ask the oldest ghosts, or the ones who’ve decided to study it for the rest of eternity. My contacts don’t really know much.”

“Your contacts?” Steve asked.

“Oh,” Danny paused. “Hm... let’s see, there’s Phantom, of course. Add in Ember, Kitty, Johnny 13, Amorphous, and... maybe...? No, not them... I think that’s it. They’re ghosts I’ve come into contact with and befriended. Oh, and Princess Dora! Can’t believe I almost forgot her...”

“You know a  _ princess? _ ” Tony stared incredulously. 

Yet  _ again _ , Danny shrugged. His shoulders were starting to get sore. “She’s a ghost, if that makes any difference. She’s got a kingdom on one of the bigger islands in the Ghost Zone, and she got involved in a pageant at Casper High my sophomore year. Can turn into a really big, blue and green dragon.”

Bruce just shook his head in amusement at Tony’s shock. He should’ve learned by then to be more open-minded. The situation really called for it, what with all the things they were learning from a seventeen-year-old boy. Peering around, he spotted a fast-food joint with a big sign that read, ‘Nasty Burger’ in red lettering. 

Danny apparently noticed it, too. “Well, that’s our first destination. I can get you guys lunch, and we’ll wait for Sam and Tucker there.”

“Sorry, kiddo, but  _ I’m _ paying for lunch,” Tony protested, pulling out his very thick wallet.

“No way, Tony. You’re in Amity Park, now,” Danny stated, arms crossed. “I know you can  _ easily _ pick up the cost of pretty much the whole town, but it’s the principle of the thing. The least you could let me do would be to buy you food.”

Steve put a hand on the billionaire’s shoulder, and the man slumped. “ _ Fine _ . Whatever.”

The teen beamed at Tony, and jogged over to the restaurant, waving for them to follow. The four Avengers smiled and followed sedately, taking their time to look at their surroundings. Clint and Steve especially were looking around, searching for more little hints of battles that may have taken place in the area. So far, their short stay in Amity had been worthwhile. 


	22. The Loser of Casper High

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for bullying in this chapter. It's not very much, but there's name-calling and threats.

Stepping inside the doors into the air-conditioned building, the group breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t expected it to be that warm outside, but it  _ was _ mid-August. It just hadn’t felt that way when they first left FentonWorks. Danny was fine, with his ghost side, but the others looked ready for ice-cold slushies and shakes. He grinned at them and walked up to the front counter to order.

Valerie was standing at the register, having picked up her part-time job again once the summer began. Danny almost burst into laughter when he noticed where she was staring, gaze slightly blank. He snapped his fingers a couple times a foot and a half away from her face.

The girl snapped back to reality and lurched backwards, reaching down to her waist where an ectoblaster normally rested. When she noticed who was actually in front of her, a bright flush spread across her cheeks and she glared at him. The raven-haired teen just rolled his eyes with a huff.

“Danny! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?!” she scolded, still glaring.

He just grinned back, and replied, “Eh, about a hundred or so. Jobs going well?”

“Yeah, pretty well. Everything’s been more or less calm while you were gone. What’s with the dream-team over there?” Valerie gestured to the quartet of well-muscled, relatively attractive men who’d entered with Danny. She recognized them, of course, but she knew Danny wasn’t one to care about celebrity status or how wealthy someone was.

“I met Tony Stark at the Expo, we got along, I ended up being dragged back to the Stark Tower. Everything kinda snowballed from there, and since I had to leave early to take care of some things back home, they decided it was a good idea to follow me,” he summed up.

The sassy ghost hunter blinked a few times, and then shrugged. “Well, good luck. You’re gonna need it with them. Lemme guess, five cheeseburgers, and... how much do those guys eat? I’d guess big ‘n’ green needs at least as much as you. Maybe super soldier, too?”

“I’m not sure, but I know they eat a lot,” he replied casually. “Let me ask, or I can have them order for themselves. I’m paying, so don’t let Tony “Billionaire” Stark take the bill, okay?”

“You got it, Fenton. The A-Listers are towards the back, just so you know,” Valerie added easily, glancing down at the register to punch in Danny’s usual order. 

“Thanks for the warning, Val,” he muttered gratefully. Turning to the four men, he called them over. “You guys are gonna have to order for yourselves! I have no idea what you’d like here. And be careful, the Nasty Sauce is... explosive.”

Clint raised an eyebrow at the last comment. “Like, flavor-wise?”

Danny winced at that. “Um, no. Seriously. It’s explosive when heated up.”

All four of them just stared at Danny. When someone finally broke the silence, it was Clint responding with a flat, “What the hell.” It then took the teen a few tries to get them all to order, and he had to take away Tony’s wallet after he tried to pay  _ three times _ . Danny knew that Valerie wouldn’t let him, but he could always just save her the trouble.

Danny stepped back to wait, a faint smile at seeing the superheroes gathered around the cash register, gazing up at the menu pasted to the wall. 

 

* * *

 

After Clint ordered, he stepped back to think about a few things he’d seen since they left the Fentons’ house. The teenagers who became adrenaline junkies, the whole damned  _ alternate dimension _ that Danny explained, and all the damage to the town’s infrastructure. Those were some pretty damn weird things for a semi-rural town to experience. It was the sort of thing he expected from places like New York or Chicago, if at all. Very strange and unsettling.

Then there was the cashier. Her reaction time when startled by Danny was split second, about half as fast as his own. That was impressive for a civilian, and it didn’t just  _ happen _ , either. That kind of reaction indicated she normally had a weapon of some type at her side, and was not unaccustomed to using it. If Danny wasn’t familiar with the teenager, Clint would have mentioned her as a potential recruit in his report that Coulson would doubtlessly request from him.

As it was, that would mean, if she accepted, the girl would be taken away to be trained and serve for several years, at least. The archer didn’t want to take away Danny’s friends, and since that’s what the girl, Valerie, seemed to be, that included her.

Returning his attention to his companions, he smirked when he saw Danny steal Tony’s wallet and tuck it away. Served the loveable asshole right, trying to sneak past the sharp-eyed teen to pay. Maybe the billionaire would learn to listen for once. 

No, that was hoping for too much.

 

* * *

 

Danny thanked Valerie and led the group to one of the tables near the front door. If it were a normal day, he might’ve risked sitting closer to the A-Listers, but without Sam and Tucker, and  _ with _ four of the famous Avengers, there was no way. That would be inviting ridicule and torment from the popular kids. 

It seemed he was cursed, though. Just as they had all settled in, Dash wandered over, flanked by Kwan and another football player whose name Danny couldn’t remember. They didn’t really matter to him past avoiding them, anyway.

“Yo, Fen _ turd _ , what the hell are you doing with them?” Dash snapped, glaring.

Danny sighed heavily and turned to face his  _ favorite _ bully. “I’m showing  _ my guests _ around town. They came to visit me, after all. They’re interested in my parents’ work, so I thought I’d tell them a bit about the ghosts and all the major fights that have happened around here.”

Kwan laughed. “What would  _ you _ know about those? You’re always running away! The only big fight you were there for was when we got kidnapped and dragged on Youngblood’s ship. Though I have to admit, you  _ were _ pretty cool then. But it didn’t last. You’re still a loser.”

Rolling his eyes, the halfa leaned back against the booth. “Can’t you guys just leave me alone? Is bullying me really that fun?”

Steve was frowning at the athletes. He didn’t like that they were mocking Danny, but he’d put off interfering. It wasn’t his place, and he’d stay out of it unless it got violent. The super soldier refused to allow Danny to be hurt when he could easily stop it.

Dash leaned forward, getting in Danny’s face, and growled, “You’re a loser, Fen _ tina _ ! Of course it’s fun to bully you! You don’t even fight back, most of the time! I think you might need a little reminder to help you respect your betters.”

“Do you  _ really _ want to do that right now?” Danny whispered, snarky tone pissing Dash off even more. The raven-haired teen glanced over at the men sitting at the table with him. “I mean, I’m not gonna stop you, but you should remember that there are four Avengers sitting at this table, and they all at least like me a little. What do you think would happen if you hit me?”

Dash glanced quickly around, and glared angrily at Danny. “Fine! The next time I see you alone, we’re gonna have a nice, long  _ talk _ ,” he spat, turning on his heel and striding back over to the tables the A-Listers were sitting at. Danny just chuckled hollowly.

“Danny? You okay?” Steve asked, concerned. 

The teen looked up at him with a sad smile. “I’m fine, Steve. It’s nothing.”

“That didn’t look like nothing,” Bruce commented dryly. 

“Looked more like you were two seconds away from a black eye,” Clint added harshly. He glanced over at Tony, who had yet to say anything. The genius had a blank expression, staring slightly downwards, deep in thought. The archer poked him a couple times in the shoulder.

“Huh? What?” Tony started, blinking and looking around wildly. Eyes focusing on the others, he smiled ruefully. “Sorry, I’m a little out of it. I don’t really like bullies. Never have, never will. Worst kind of thing you can do to a kid, bully them. Screws with their victim’s sense of self-worth, with how they view themselves in relation to their peers. Really messed up.”

Danny blinked, and broke into quiet laughter. “What exactly does that mean?”

Bruce sighed and explained, “I think Tony means he’s worried about you, and maybe that he’s been a victim of bullying before. It wouldn’t surprise me, what with how quickly he finished school and college. Am I right, Tony?”

The genius shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much. See, it was less my peers bullying me and more me being ignored by my parents, but those are just minor details. Little things. Anyway, I totally get how annoying it is when someone feels the need to constantly belittle and badger you. That was pretty much how my later teen years went, anyway. Adults underestimating me or being jealous that I was so much smarter than them. Why do they pick on you?”

“Freaky parents,” Danny answered casually. “Before the ghost portal worked, they were the local crazies. I mean, most people think studying ghosts will go absolutely nowhere, and with how passionate they are about their field of study, people just thought they were insane.”

“Hm. That must’ve sucked.” Tony grimaced, and took a bite of his burger.

Bruce chuckled. “So those three normally bully you?”

“Eh. Dash is the bully, the others usually just watch. Sometimes, Kwan and the other football players will join in, but for the most part, it’s just the ‘star quarterback’ who picks on me. Doesn’t get punished, either, because the school needs him. I’m just a D-average student with weird parents and a lot of absences.” Danny started on his first burger.

“That’s not fair,” Clint protested. 

“Life’s not fair,” Tony drawled, starting in on his second burger. 

Steve groaned quietly. “Can we just stop this before it starts?”

“No.” Both glared at each other.

Steve turned a pleading look to Bruce and Danny, but there was no help to be found from them. They were too amused by the childish argument to stop it. The captain just decided it was healthiest to ignore the two of them and simply enjoy his meal, so that was what he did, albeit with annoyed resignation.

Once everyone devoured the remains of their food and leaned back to relax, they started chatting about the Ghost Zone and the ghosts that the town saw most often. It was hard to keep track of every single ghost, after all, but there were some that were seen at least a few times a month, and those were well-known. Danny went over as much of the Ghost Zone as a human could reasonably know with short excursions and ghostly allies. That meant leaving a lot out, and things like where stable natural portals were would obviously be kept a secret.

“So, you’re telling me that about a third of the cryptids are  _ ghosts? _ ” Clint asked.

Danny smirked. “Yeah. The rest are probably mutated animals, weird shadows and sounds, and of course, photoshop or rigged. I’ve met a yeti, actually. He’s really nice.”

The archer shook his head sadly, trying to keep some sense of normality in his life. Aliens and ghosts, and now he learned some of the cryptids weren’t mutants or rigged at all. Steve also looked to be in the same boat as him, but thankfully to the archer, Clint hadn’t been stuck in a chunk of ice for decades on end. He shuddered at the thought. Honestly, he was just a normal guy with awesome eyes! Sometimes the super-stuff was too much.

As Steve was about to ask another question, Sam and Tucker appeared in front of the booth, smirking down at them. Danny chuckled at Clint’s wary expression, and scooted over so his best friends could sit down next to him.

“Ready to show them around a bit more?” Sam asked cheerfully.

Danny grinned. “Yeah. We should probably get going before I break Clint.”

“Hey!” aforementioned man shouted in protest.

Tony, Steve, and Sam all laughed. “Are you really trying to deny it?” Bruce asked carefully.

The archer slumped in his seat a little, and shrugged. “Not really, I guess. It’s just a lot to take in for a guy like me. I may be a SHIELD agent, but I’m pretty normal compared to you guys. I’m too removed from this kinda shit. The alien invasion did a hell of a lot to make me more open to new experiences, though...”

“It did that for everyone, Legolas. Don’t worry, we’re all a little overwhelmed,” Tony stated, grinning a little tiredly. “So, engineering whiz, where to next?”

Danny exchanged a glance with Sam and Tucker. “The biggest target in town during the school year. Casper High.”


	23. Grades Aren't Everything

The high school had obviously seen some better times, but it was in fairly good repair for being the most targeted building. All in all, the four Avengers thought it looked fairly average, with a bit of oddity in the difference of materials used to build it. The newer sections were rebuilt with stronger, more reinforced concrete, steel, bricks, and other similar materials. It created a slightly patchwork image from the outside.

Danny waved them over to a mostly-dead tree with a picnic table set underneath it. He climbed up into one of the lower-hanging branches, followed shortly by Clint, and the others sat on the grass or the picnic table. Sam was sitting on the table itself, with Tucker on the bench beside her, with Tony and Bruce facing each other on opposite benches. Steve sat on the grass and stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his hands. It was a nice day. A little on the warm side, but still nice.

Up in the tree, Clint decided to ask Danny about his grades and absences, since they were at the school, anyway. That was what had reminded him of the inconsistent report cards in the first place. All of the team who’d met the teenager knew he was incredibly intelligent, so the D-average he tended to maintain was very out-of-place.

“Hey, Danny,” Clint began, pausing in hesitation. “Uh... it’s probably not my place to ask, but... why are your grades so low? You’re obviously smart enough to get straight A’s if you wanted to.”

The teen stiffened slightly, and took a deep breath. He explained, “It’s not that I don’t care about my grades, or that I don’t put an effort in at school. There are some reasons I can’t really explain, but if you’ve seen my grades, you’ve probably seen how many absences I have, right? If I could get to even half the classes I’m missing, my grades would probably be a lot higher. Sadly, I’ve got too much on my plate outside of school to do well  _ inside _ of school.”

Clint considered his reply. There were obvious things missing, like just what he did when he was absent from class, or what responsibilities he had outside of school that made him unable to work on his academic responsibilities.

“What do you do when you’re not in school? Maybe we can help,” Clint offered, a small smile on his face. 

Danny laughed, a bit bitterly, too. “It’s not something you can really help with. Thanks for the offer, though. That’s a lot more than most people have done when they hear about my weird situation.”

“No problem. But seriously, Danny, we just want to help,” he pressed, a little forcefully.

“I get that, Clint, I do. You guys have been great to me so far, and you even put up with my intense phobia of agents to try and get to know me. That means a lot to me, so don’t worry about what you can’t do; you’ve already done a whole ton of good.” Danny smiled warmly at the archer, and then leaned back, closing his eyes.

Clint jerked forward, shocked into action as he watched Danny slip off the branch. Was it his asking questions? Had he upset the teen? He knew he couldn’t quite reach the teen in time, but then he watched Danny swing under, and breathed a sigh of relief. The kid had hooked his knees over the branch so he could hang upside down.

“Jesus, Danny, don’t do that! You gave me a heart attack!” Clint called roughly, smiling in spite of himself. He could hear the teen’s quiet laughter and returned to the branch he’d occupied previously. 

Danny glanced down and let his arms dangle, relaxed. He had forgotten that his shirt was loose enough to slip down his torso, and when he spotted Sam’s panicked expression, his gaze snapped upwards. One of the worse scars he had was exposed, a huge, rough slash going from the top of his pants, under his belly button, up to the left. It even wrapped around his side a little, and he hastened to tug his shirt back in place. With one hand, he pulled himself up on the branch again, and gulped nervously.

Beneath him, Sam was a bit pale, Tucker looked like he was praying silently, and all three Avengers below were staring wide-eyed at him. Danny cursed under his breath, quietly enough that the others wouldn’t notice it wasn’t English he was cursing in. Latin was a  _ dead _ language, after all.

“Danny, what’s up?” The other person in the tree, Clint, hadn’t seen. Danny noticed his worried eyes just searched his expression, and he wondered if he should answer honestly. 

Tucker’s voice echoed from where he sat beneath them. “Danny! Just come down, we can’t really explain this ourselves.” 

Nodding jerkily to Clint, Danny allowed himself to slide feet-first off the branch, landing heavily on the grass surrounding the tree. He swallowed thickly, anxiety growing as the silence grew more tense. He inspected each person’s face in turn. 

Bruce was the first to speak. “Danny... you don’t have to worry. Remember what I said?”

Nodding, the teen bit his lip. He remembered what Bruce had told him very well, when the two of them were talking alone. Understanding and empathy were two things the scientist could offer him, and Danny knew that the man would support him if the truth came out and something bad happened. It was a comforting, and warming, thought.

“Yeah,” Danny croaked, and then cleared his throat. “Yeah, I remember.”

He looked over to Sam and Tucker, and they instantly hopped off the picnic table to stand with him and offer their support. Sam also quietly adjusted the watch-like wrist-ray she always wore these days. It might not do much against the Avengers, but it would be a deterrent. 

“So, you want to know where that scar came from, right?” Danny asked, waiting for their nods and murmurs of agreement. “I can’t really explain without a promise of silence. Only six people know everything, and you can’t... I can’t let it go past you four.”

Steve stared, wide-eyed at the trust Danny was showing them. It was more than he felt they deserved, at this point. They  _ had _ researched his background extensively once they met him, after all. Both Tony, Pepper, and himself were guilty of it. He couldn’t add Clint or Bruce, though. Clint was dragged along, and Bruce always respected people’s privacy. He was just that kind of man.

“If it’s that important, you have it,” the super soldier stated firmly, determination shining in his eyes. He would protect Danny, the teenager was a good person, and as close a friend as Steve had these days.

Tony coughed lightly. “We should probably go back to your house, if you don’t want your secret getting out. Y’know, public places, eavesdropping people, that kind of thing? Might not be the best idea to tell us out here. Oh, and I promise. I won’t tell a soul. Cross my heart and hope to die. Or, well, not really. Dying sounds really boring.”

“You’d think so,” Danny muttered to himself, causing Sam and Tucker to chuckle.

Sam elbowed the halfa in the ribs, and drawled, “The rich boy’s right, Danny. Let’s get back home before you reveal your oh so awesome and dramatic secret.”

He growled lightly at her before rolling his eyes and nodding. At least the others did a good job at cheering him up and making him relax. Glancing up to the tree, he noticed Clint was also paying attention, and was happy that he didn’t have to repeat himself.

The archer dropped down from the tree and Danny waved them over, leading the way back to FentonWorks. The impending discussion would certainly be...  _ interesting _ .

 

* * *

 

Thor landed heavily on the sidewalk next to the home of Daniel Fenton and his family. The cement cracked a bit as he touched down, but for the most part, the god avoided doing too much damage. As always, the things he saw on Midgard intrigued him to no end. The large metal contraption on the roof of the building was a mystery he hoped the half-draugr child would be willing to explain to him at a later time. 

He was just about to approach the front door when he heard familiar voices coming from further down the street. Turning, his face broke into a wide grin when he spotted his friends and the half-draugr hero walking towards him.

“Friends! It is good to see you again!” he cheered, striding quickly over to them.

All of the Avengers looked at least mildly surprised at his sudden appearance, and the trio of teenagers blinked in shock. Danny was wondering, yet again, how he managed to get himself into these messes. Only he would have a  _ Norse god _ randomly waiting for him to return, in front of his house. Tucker looked excited, and Sam was clearly suspicious.

“Thor?” Steve asked in surprise. “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming for another week at the earliest!”

The blonde warrior continued to grin at them as he slowed to a stop in front of them. “My father had better luck than he expected, gathering enough energy to send me back to Midgard. I gladly accepted the chance to leave early, for it would give me more time to spend with all of you and my lady, Jane.”

“That’s wonderful, Thor, but why are you  _ here? _ As in, in Amity Park?” Steve continued, giving a warm smile to his friend. It really was great that their teammate was able to come visit earlier than expected. 

“I inquired of Lady Pepper as to your whereabouts, and she bid me to give you greetings when I rejoined our group. When I was told you had gone to this city, I was ecstatic! Of all the places on Midgard, this one is one of the better known to us in Asgard,” Thor explained happily, nodding respectfully to Tony, Clint, and Bruce. “I would not miss a chance such as this to come on a journey here.”

Danny was paling slightly. Just  _ why _ did Asgard know about Amity Park? Was it the ghost attacks? Maybe the Pariah Dark incident had something to do with it. Hopefully. He wanted to be able to explain it away, if possible.

Then, Thor turned to Danny with a serious expression. “My apologies, Daniel Fenton, if I interrupted your discussion. I was merely eager to greet my companions when I caught sight of them. If it does not bother you, will you allow me to join you all?”

Voice a little tight, Danny replied, “Go ahead, I guess. We were just heading back to my house to talk a bit. Nice to meet you, Thor...?”

The serious expression melted away to joyful relief. “And an honor it is to meet you, Daniel Fenton! Thank you for allowing me to join you.”

“No problem,” he choked awkwardly, enduring the god’s forceful slap on the back. It was a lot heavier a hit than most humans could deliver, even without Thor’s intention to do so. That was meant to be a friendly greeting, the teen knew. He’d met some older ghosts from countries in Northern Europe.

Sam leaned forward, eyes narrowed, and snapped, “You better behave, though! Control your strength, jeez. You almost knocked Danny off his feet!”

Danny blushed and protested, “Sam! It’s fine, leave it alone.”

She huffed in frustration, but nodded anyway. “Alright, alright. I’m just looking out for you, you know that. These people are superheroes, after all. Right, guys?”

Tony snorted, and agreed, “Right, kid. Between Thor, Steve, and Bruce when he’s green, we’ve got a lot of punching power on our team. Add my own suit into the mix, and Clint and Natasha’s accuracy, and we’re pretty damn formidable.”

Danny just rolled his eyes and led them back into his house. Everyone lounged around the living room, relaxing in the cool indoors. He chuckled at the sight of powerful heroes looking so lazy and content. Now came the hard part. He had told them he’d explain, so he would.

The half-ghost teenager just hoped their reactions wouldn’t be too bad.


	24. The Big Reveal

Danny strolled into the kitchen to get everyone a glass of lemonade. They were all thirsty, and he noticed a freshly-made pitcher in the fridge. Sam was amazing, sometimes. Most times, actually. He grinned at the thought. Though a romantic relationship didn’t work out between them, they’d always be best friends.

“So,” the halfa began as he passed the drinks out, “you all promise not to share what I’m going to tell you? With  _ anyone _ who doesn’t already know?” He stared at each Avenger in turn, wanting to make sure they were completely honest with him if they agreed.

Steve nodded instantly, along with Bruce. Both of them understood, to an extent, that he was anxious for more reasons than just backlash from the public. They’d both been the victims of experiments, in one way or another, and both of them had people who wanted to ‘study’ them and their abilities. 

Tony grinned and swore, “I solemnly swear, on my arc reactor.”

Clint snorted at that and smiled softly. “Of course, Danny. I didn’t work so hard to befriend you just to mess it up later! You’re stuck with an old guy like me as a friend, so suck it up.” This statement was met with bright, happy laughter. The archer had managed to break up the tense atmosphere really well.

Thor looked blankly around, and then at Danny with a questioning look. Explaining, Danny said, “I’m going to tell you all about one of my biggest secrets. I’d like you to promise you won’t tell anyone or talk about it with anyone who doesn’t already know.”

“Ah,” the man nodded, relaxing. “Certainly, I do so swear to never break the terms of this promise, whether it be to reveal your secrets or speak of them to those who are unaware of them. You will not find me an oath-breaker, Daniel Fenton, be calmed.”

Danny smiled warmly at the god. “I know your word is good, Thor. Don’t worry.”

First, the teen nodded to Bruce as he began his tale. “You all know that my parents have a portal to the Ghost Zone; I’ve even told you about it myself a few times. Bruce knows a bit more than the rest of you about that, having spoken to my parents. See, the portal didn’t work, at first. It was left alone, and when Sam, Tucker, and I were exploring the lab one day, I went inside it.”

Here, they all noticed Sam had an incredibly guilty expression; her fists were clenched on her lap and her eyes were hard. She didn’t like to think about the actual accident. It was her fault, after all, she had been the one to dare Danny to go inside. It was a stupid thing to do, in retrospect. Hell, she had been the cause of her friend’s half-death!

“When I was inside, I tripped over some loose wires,” he continued. “When I tried to catch myself on the wall before I fell, I accidentally pressed a button. My parents aren’t always the best planners, and my dad had put the ‘ON’ button... on the inside of the portal. It was why the thing hadn’t worked in the first place.” 

Bruce gasped, frozen. He knew Danny had probably under exaggerated, but to be fully  _ inside _ the machine when it turned on was the worst possible outcome. That would be nearly lethal. If Danny wasn’t here, he would have said it  _ was _ . Then again... with all the ghosts... it made a strange kind of sense. He’d seen a picture of Phantom before. The only question was whether Danny was actually still alive.

Danny gazed sadly at Bruce’s horrified expression. Slowly, he continued, “You know, don’t you? Bruce, our talk helped me a lot more than you know. I really can’t thank you enough. And the rest of you, can you guess what happened? When the machine, the portal, turned on with me inside of it?” He scanned their faces, resting a hand on Sam’s arm to provide comfort.

“You...” Tony breathed, shocked. He was an engineer, he  _ knew _ what those kinds of accidents felt like, although not to such an extreme. He knew what they _did_. “You were  _ in _ the...?”

Danny snorted ruefully, and grinned. “I was fourteen, the age of idiocy. I made my own choice to go in, even though I knew it was a stupid thing to do. Yeah, I was inside the portal when it turned on. Being electrocuted wasn’t the most pleasant experience; thank god the lab is more than soundproof.”

Tucker bit his lip, and added, “We thought he was dead. There was nothing we could do, I felt so helpless. When it finally stopped, an eternity later it felt like, we immediately tried to get to him. Later, when we figured out what happened, we realized that there were  _ two _ power switches, and both had to be on at the same time for the portal to work.”

“When the portal shut down after electrocuting me, I collapsed. Sam and Tucker tried to catch me, but...” the teen trailed off, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “I fell  _ through _ their hands, apparently. I came to a few seconds later, and they told me to look in the mirror. I was so scared something had happened to me, and it did.”

Since he seemed to be struggling, Sam continued for him. “Danny looked different. His hair, eyes, and skin were different colors, and the colors of his HAZMAT suit had become inverse from the originals.”

“I remembered feeling very cold,” Danny admitted quietly. “I knew something was wrong, and it took me a minute to realize I wasn’t breathing. When I started to panic, a ring appeared around my middle and split, traveling up and down my body, changing me. I was –and am– half  _ dead _ . Half  _ ghost _ . That portal accident... it  _ did _ kill me.”

Sam and Tucker both wrapped him in a tight hug, noticing the wavering tone of his voice as he finished. It was something he joked about, but didn’t like to think of. Who would? No matter how much fun he made of the situation, it traumatized all three teenagers. In addition to that, Danny was the same thing his parents used to hate, with a burning passion, no less.

“You died. That’s...” Bruce trailed off, searching for words.

“Amazing? Terrible? Awe-inspiring? Horrifying, in truth?” Tony supplied, mind running on autopilot as he tried to process the new information. He just stared blankly at Danny, trying to connect the teen he knew and the fact that Danny was essentially dead. Schrodinger’s cat, indeed.

Danny chuckled hollowly, and nodded. “All of the above, right? I’m just glad someone here can understand.” He nodded to Bruce. “You  _ should _ have died, but you didn’t. You said your accident should have killed you. The only difference is that  _ mine _ actually did.”

Tony came back to himself at that, and frowned thoughtfully. “You’re still alive, though, aren’t you? You have a heartbeat, you can breath, all that stuff.” He paused, and grimaced, “I can also get it, a little. Without the arc reactor in my chest, I’d die, so the whole ‘near-death experience’ thing isn’t a foreign idea.”

“I guess,” Danny conceded, relaxing just a little. “Steve? Clint?”

Blinking out of his thoughts, Clint frowned pensively. “It’s really weird, but then again, every damned thing in my life is weird, so that’s nothing new. Like Tony said, you’re still alive. Even if you  _ were _ only dead, I don’t think that’d be a... huge issue, probably. You’ve been pretty cool with us so far.”

Steve nodded, smiling hesitantly. “It’s not that strange, with all the mutants that are cropping up everywhere. It’d take more than an accident like that to scare me away.” He gently took a sip of his lemonade, exhibiting his casual normalcy to ease the tension. 

Thor just stared at his teammates in surprise, and then shrugged at the nervous halfa’s questioning expression. “I already knew, to tell the truth. Many of my people go down to the pools used to view different words and watch them as you Midgardians would watch your televisions. Daniel Fenton is hailed as a hero in Asgard for his sacrifices made to keep his home, and this world, safe.”

Danny paled at the thought of his secret being public knowledge. “Y-You can’t be... you aren’t serious, right? That many people...” 

“Daniel, do not worry yourself. We respect you and your power,” Thor soothed, hands held up peaceably. “Your defeat of Pariah Dark is cause for renown, is it not? If that tyrant had seized control of the ghostly realm, he would threaten Midgard, and soon enough, all of the Nine Realms in time. You have no cause of concern over our knowledge of your secret. I shall tell my father, when I return, that you wish Fenton and Phantom to remain separate beings.”

Sighing in relief, Danny nodded gratefully to the god. “It’s just really nerve-wracking, that so many people know about my secret. I’ve tried so hard to keep it over the past three years, if even one person in Amity finds out, the whole thing might blow up in my face.”

Bruce muttered to himself for a moment, and then aloud, “I can’t die, and you’re halfway there. We’ve got a god who lives, what, thousands of Earth years? Then there’s Steve, who was frozen in  _ ice _ for decades before being thawed and is essentially over ninety, and Tony who’s always hovering between life and death with that shrapnel in his chest.”

“Wait, how do you know you can’t die?” Danny asked curiously.

Chuckling bitterly, Bruce answered, “I put a bullet in my mouth. The other guy didn’t like that very much.” That wasn’t the only thing he’d tried, either. The scientist expected that he’d only die of old age or an illness that couldn’t be fought off by the Hulk’s immune system. He was a bit worried about whether or not Danny had tried to end the rest of his life, but since the teenager was still here, he either wasn’t successful or hadn’t tried.

“Oh,” the halfa breathed almost silently. He hadn’t gotten to that point, ever. He had Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and now Valerie, Dani, Vlad, and even  _ Dan _ . Depression was an issue, on rare occasions, but never had it been that bad. “I kinda understand, I guess, but.... It’s getting better over time. My friends and some family support me.”

Sam gave him a quick side hug and smiled. “Don’t forget, your parents don’t hate your ghost half anymore. You don’t have to worry about them finishing the job.”

Danny blinked, and grinned. “Yeah, no more talk of them ripping me apart, molecule by molecule. That was a huge relief, seriously. Or worrying about vivisections. Or their new, better, more painful inventions.”

“They wanted to  _ what?! _ ” Tony cried, head snapping up at that. 

Bruce paled, and shuddered. “Vivisection? They... why? They don’t seem like the people to do that type of thing. I would never have guessed.”

“They used to think ghosts couldn’t feel. Pain, and emotions, good or bad, except anger. If they had caught me back then, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. They  _ hated _ Phantom, even more than most ghosts. Those two wouldn’t have believed me if I changed back to save myself. They probably would have thought I was being possessed, or that Phantom was one of those ghosts who could change their appearance.”

The horror in the room was almost tangible, and Danny felt reluctant to add, “I guess it wouldn’t really be  _ vivisection _ , though, would it? I mean, Phantom’s already dead, so...”

“That’s... scary,” Tony commented.

Steve looked slightly green. “Your  _ parents _ could have killed you? You had to  _ live _ with that?”

“Yeah, the Fentons were very anti-ghost in the beginning. At home, they’d always talk about what they wanted to do to ghosts if they caught any. All sorts of painful experiments, too. They’ve got nothing on the Guys In White, though. Those monsters don’t care about anyone other than themselves.” Tucker glared at the wall when he thought of those agents.

“Damn, they really  _ are _ fucked up,” Clint wondered aloud.

Sam snorted. “That’s putting it lightly.”

“ _ Anyway _ , after the accident, I could shift between human and ghost at will. The three of us discovered I had a bunch of powers in my ghost form, and I could use some of them in my human form. Actually, that’s why I’m banned from the chemistry labs at school; I couldn’t control my intangibility for the first month or so.” Danny grinned and held up a hand. It was transparent, clear, and they could just barely make out the edges of the appendage. 

Sam reached out and waved her own hand through Danny’s, shivering slightly at the cold feeling that came with being phased through. “It was pretty hilarious, all things considered. One time, his belt turned intangible and made his pants fall down in the middle of the hallway at school. Yet another weird occurrence caused by the Fenton family.”

Bruce smiled slightly, and asked, “So you took on the job of protecting Amity Park from the ghosts that came through the portal?”

The teenager nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. The first time was just an accident, actually. Sam changed the lunch menu at school to include ultra-recyclo vegetarian options, and one of the ghosts didn’t like that. The Lunch Lady came and attacked the school with... with meat. Like, actual steaks and ham and burgers.”

“Dude, that was an  _ awesome _ first fight! So much meat...! And you finally got a handle on your powers! All you had to do was actually use them in your ghost form, and practice a little.” Tucker closed his eyes in contented remembrance of that day. He was a carnivore at heart.

“Yeah, but remember I was terrified of using my ghost form?” Danny replied, smiling sadly. “I didn’t want to risk becoming more dead, if that makes sense. Changing would have made it more real, or at least, that’s what I’d thought.”

Sam ruffled his hair affectionately. “My  _ hero _ ,” she drawled, laughing. “Well, your parents certainly weren’t up to the task. As amazing as they are at inventing, they completely suck at doing anything even related to hunting ghosts.”

Tony tapped his leg, deep in thought. “Y’know, I kinda want to see Phantom for myself. I’m not the only one who thinks this is awesome as hell, am I? I mean, you got some pretty cool powers from the sound of it! You should totally show them off. Like, right now. Seriously.”

Sam, Tucker, and Danny all shared a knowing, smug look. Ghost fighting wasn’t the only way the halfa trained his powers. They’d done a lot of renovation to the basement level, the lab wasn’t the only thing down there, anymore. It would be perfect for the occasion.

Hopping to his feet, Danny stretched a bit and grinned at the five Avengers. “Alright, you guys asked for it!” He glanced back at Tucker and Sam. “I’m  _ Going Ghost! _ ” 

The two teens broke into wild laughter as a bright, silver-white ring formed around Danny’s middle and split, traveling up and down his body. In its wake, a black jumpsuit with white accents was revealed. His body gave off a faint glow, and when the rings dissipated, he stared at them with acid-green eyes. The halfa blew a lock of white hair out of his eyes, and waited to see the others’ reaction.

Thor was the only one not stunned into silence, as he had seen it happen before, albeit in one of the viewing pools back on Asgard. He had a huge grin on his face, pleased beyond words that Danny was willing to trust him enough to reveal what was a secret in Midgard. The muscular man remembered an interesting Earth custom, and flashed the teen a quick thumbs-up. 

The rest of them came to their senses slowly. Tony and Clint were wearing stupid grins like a couple of ten-year-olds meeting their favorite superhero. Bruce looked amazed, his eyes filled with excitement at the possibility of working with the ghostly teen on a scientific level. They both knew what boundaries existed in terms of scientific study, and neither would go past what the other’s limits were.

Steve was just in awe. He’d never seen something like that, even dealing with Hydra, Loki, and the other super-powered people he’d met up until that point. Danny wasn’t an alien, like Thor and Loki were, or the Chitauri. He wasn’t a mutant with the x-gene. Even Bruce was different enough from the teenager to make it count. Bruce and the Hulk were separate people, with different desires and personalities. Danny was two halves as a whole. 

“So,” Danny drawled, breaking the silence. “Do you guys want to see what I can do?”

There was a lot of cheerful agreement from everyone in the room, even his best friends. They wanted Danny to knock the socks off the Avengers. He was a hell of a lot stronger than most gave him credit for, and now was a chance to prove himself to more people who actually mattered, his new friends. It would be amazing.


End file.
